Florentino Perez REFUSES to back down in defence of European Super League

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has refused to back down in his defence of the disastrous European Super League and insists that anyone who thinks the project is dead is ‘completely wrong’.

Perez, who is also the president of the Super League, has come out swinging just 24 hours after the controversial project collapsed after the Premier League‘s ‘Big Six’ withdrew from £4.6bn scheme.

In an explosive interview with El Larguero’s Manu Carreno, Perez accused Manchester City‘s owners of creating a smear campaign against the Super League following global backlash from football fans, saying that the proposed plans would get rid of domestic leagues – which Perez claims is not true.

Florentino Perez refuses to back down in his defence of the disastrous European Super League

As quoted by AS, Perez told reporters on Wednesday evening: ‘I’m sad and disappointed. We’ve been working for years in this, looking to see how to make things better from a football and economic point of view.

‘The leagues are sacred. What we can change is the midweek games. The Champions League is obsolete – it’s only interesting from the quarter-finals.’ 

When asked about the six Premier League club’s withdrawal from the project on Tuesday, Perez claims that once one club had doubts, it became contagious.

Fans of the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’ protested their club’s involvement in the Super League 

Tottenham supporters protested against their rebellious owner Daniel Levy on Wednesday

‘They started a campaign, which was totally manipulated, that we were going to terminate domestic leagues. That we were ending football, it was terrible.

‘There was someone in the English clubs who did not have much interest. That started to affect the others. There was fear. One of the English clubs was never really convinced.  

‘The English clubs tried to do something, but they were being told they were killing football. But there is no other solution than the Super League. Or somebody invents something else.

‘In general, there will not be big transfers this summer. When money does not flow from the rich clubs to the poor clubs, everyone suffers.

‘It’s impossible to make signings like [Kylian] Mbappe and [Erling] Haaland, in general, not just for Real Madrid, without the Super League.’

Despite the European Super League now looking dead in the water, Perez believes it can still happen, and that several of the continent’s biggest clubs are still involved in making it happen.

‘Juventus and Milan have not left,’ he added. ‘Barcelona are thinking about it. Maybe we can change it a bit – that the top four in England enter, the top four in Spain. The important thing is that the big teams play each other, so the kids will watch football.

‘The founder clubs believed in this project. It is not dead. We will keep working.’