Florentino Pérez's flight forward
The press conference called this afternoon by surprise by Florentino Pérez with the aim of announcing the call for elections at the club has led to a lamentable confrontation with the press that has revealed the true face of the madridista president. The entire intervention has been a forward flight that has distilled arrogance, haughtiness, sexism, and contempt for journalists and any shadow of opposition. It has been a communication catastrophe for the entity from which it will take many years to recover.
Florentino Pérez has had it in for everyone, and not only has he publicly argued with a journalist in the press room, but he has also announced that he is withdrawing from Abc" because he doesn't like what it publishes. He then denounced an alleged journalistic conspiracy to destroy him and challenged those who, in his opinion, are "the bad guys" to present a candidacy against his. Not only that, but he warned that there will be reprisals against those who, from within the club, leaked the fight between Tchouaméni and Valverde.
Under the excuse of wanting to defend the members, Florentino Pérez has sent a very clear message to the whole world: Real Madrid is his and he will only leave "at gunpoint," in his own words. Paradoxically, the image that remains after the press conference is that of a club in decomposition, with a president incapable of formulating the slightest self-criticism. It is difficult to imagine that a coach with any standing would want to occupy the bench of Real Madrid under these conditions.
This, however, has used the Negreira case wildcard – which, according to him, is "the most serious corruption scandal in the history of football" – and has announced that he will shortly present a detailed report to UEFA. The Negreira case must be clarified in all its aspects, but this afternoon it sounded like an excuse from a bad payer. The supposedly most gentlemanly club in the world has also resorted to easy victimhood to claim that this season the referees have taken 18 points from Real Madrid. You have to see it to believe it.
After seeing the press conference, some of Real Madrid's decisions that had already tarnished their reputation are better understood, such as the boycott of the Ballon d'Or gala for not awarding the prize to Vinícius (which was won precisely by a Madrid player like Rodri), or the bad manners of its players when they were eliminated from the Champions League. Real Madrid's global discredit is currently an unquestionable fact.
The case of Florentino Pérez also demonstrates the importance of having a free press, as the tendency of all these characters, emulators of Donald Trump, is to expect journalists to be cowardly and write at their dictation. And those who do not are quickly accused of being traitors to the homeland and of acting out of obscure interests. Unfortunately, this is a script that is too common nowadays, both in sport and in politics. The role of the press is precisely to question official narratives and demand accountability. And it seems that many still do not understand this. And not only in Madrid.