Due to his age (he will turn 80 in five months), it escapes no one that the very long adventure of Florentino Pérez as president of Real Madrid is closer to the end than to the beginning. However, the powerful Madrid businessman renewed his status as the white leader last June in the first elections the club had held since 2006. He defeated the young Enrique Riquelme at the polls, who garnered 35% of the support despite being quite unknown to the general public, and secured four more years of government that will be stormy if the ball continues not to go in.

"The management of Real Madrid conducts an orchestra of gatecrashers and Real Madrid TV is its greatest exponent. Its score is always the same: select the plays that interest them, repeat the grievance, fuel suspicion, and point out enemies. This method recalls propaganda mechanisms exploited by Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany: systematic repetition, construction of an enemy, and subordination of facts to the narrative". This is just a fragment of the extensive tweet made by Javier Tebas, president of the League and vice president of the Spanish Federation (RFEF), to criticize Real Madrid's actions after learning of the four-match suspension imposed on Vinícius.

After being turned down for years and years, Real Madrid managed to complete the signing of Kylian Mbappé in the summer of 2024. The French forward, one of the most prominent goalscorers in football, dreamed of winning the Champions League and landed in a team that a few months earlier had lifted thebig ears trophy for the 15th time. The combination of a winning club and a relentless goalscorer made people fear the worst. But, as things go in football, the invention stopped working. Except for the European Super Cup and the Intercontinental Cup, the team came up empty-handed at the same time as Barça established itself as the team to beat.

I suspect that the stands of the Camp Nou will not take long to chant "Mourinho, stay" with an effervescence similar to the one with which they already sing "Raphinha, captain". It will not surprise me, to be honest, because the new stage of the Portuguese coach at Real Madrid looks like it will end fatally. Fourth in the standings, six points behind Barça after seven matchdays played, without a game, soul, footballing solutions or self-criticism and already pointing to malevolent conspiracies in the shadows, it sounds like an unbeatable path to crashing into the ravine just as it begins. And there is already a date for the show: on October 25th at nine o'clock at night, Mourinho's Madrid visits the Camp Nou.

Kylian Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Ibrahima Konaté have ended up complicating the Ceuta crisis even further. The three Real Madrid players had a “gesture towards the immigrants who lost their lives and who live in very harsh conditions,” as explained by Mbappé, the only one of the three who, for now, has commented on the act of rolling up their shirts in support of Ceuta before the match against Elche. Although he also expressed his solidarity with the people of Ceuta, Mbappé said that he “did not want to prioritize suffering.” The great star of the white team, who has Algerian-Cameroonian roots and grew up in the suburbs of Paris, maintains a stance diametrically opposed to that of the Spanish nationalism of which his club is the greatest exponent, since he shows solidarity with immigrants, both dead and alive, to the same extent as with the people of Ceuta. In any case, he does not seem to regret his gesture, despite the avalanche of adverse reactions it has generated.

Many things have happened this week, and the most important one (even if it seems so) is not that Florentino Pérez is going to Ceuta today to make a resounding profession of the Spanish identity of Madrid and Ceuta. A kind of “how could I not love you”, if I am Madrid.But today the news in Ceuta is that the thousands of people who were living in poor conditions on the beaches have finally been moved to the city's port, where a decent camp awaits them. It has taken a month and nineteen days for the president of Ceuta, the Spanish government, the judiciary, and the police unions to agree and stop preventing it. A shameful management. By the way, very far but very close to Ceuta, in New York, the governments of Morocco and Israel have signed the agreement by which Rabat and Tel Aviv elevate their diplomatic relations to the embassy level, and they will soon exchange ambassadors. Morocco is not only the neighbor that holds the key to African immigration to the EU, but it also reinforces its long-standing alliance with the United States, now with Trump.But, of course, in a week where the topic of debate has been whether AI could kill us all before 2030, any other news seems small. In reality, everything matters. If we talk about ourselves, it has begun, as you know, the trial of the four national police officers accused of torture and injuries resulting in the loss of an organ, when they fired the rubber bullet that left Roger Español blind in one eye on October 1st. The day before yesterday they said that the operation was “absolutely perfect”, and yesterday the police officers declared, very remorseful, as proof of the aggression with which they were received, that people were shouting “Españolazos” at them, that they were only defending themselves, that they gave warnings and that they were not going to cause harm but to deter. And they said this with Roger Español present there.Police: “The very aggressive manner in which the public gathered there was throwing objects, mm, stones, cobblestones, bottles, from... from the facades they were also throwing them, and their physical integrity was at serious risk. This is more than enough, more than enough, to be able to use the riot control equipment that the intervention units are legally equipped with, which are not harmful, mm, they are not... They are deterrent. They are not harmful, they are deterrent.”But the moment that sums it all up is this one. The judge calls a Catalan interpreter, who gets so nervous that she cannot interpret anything.

In Madrid, they still have not digested the act of rebellion by Vinícius, Mbappé, and Konaté in refusing to wear a solidarity shirt for the people of Ceuta. So much so that now they are starting to fire, by elevation, at Florentino Pérez. The best example is an article signed by Kike Marín – a sports journalist with long experience who has worked for Mark andAs– a El Confidencial titled "The offense of Mbappé, Vinícius and Konaté in Ceuta, another symptom of the lack of control at Real Madrid". The journalist points to one of Pérez's main advisors, the Moroccan-born Anas Laghari, as being responsible for this lack of control and for some decisions that are difficult for Madrid fans to understand, such as the low profile the club has adopted regarding the Ceuta cause. "The simple fact that the honorary president of Real Madrid, José Martínez Pirri, even if it is from Ceuta it should embarrass Mbappé, Vinícius and Konaté", he writes. "It seems that the club is slipping out of Florentino's hands", he concludes.

In Madrid, they are debating the exact reasons why the fans are whistling the team. At the Bernabéu, whistles were heard when Inter scored in the Champions League, and there was also noise directed at Vinícius and Mbappé. I have a theory, in case it is of any use to them.

You don't need to be close friends with Florentino Pérez to know that Real Madrid's president doesn't take criticism well. Two blank years are too many for a leader accustomed to success who had recently been pointed out for poor management in transfer policy. With a serious face in the stands and after the umpteenth change on the bench, Florentino slammed his fist on the table, calling an absurd press conference – the first he had held in eleven years – to announce elections. Also for the first time in two decades, the leader had an opponent in front of him – until now, he had won them as the sole candidate. And once re-elected, he seemed to put the pedal to the metal with an aggressive and authoritarian transfer policy, where he not only wanted to strengthen his Madrid, but also wanted to annoy Barça, the rival to beat in the Spanish league in the last two years.

The world of football is cyclical, it tends to revisit itself. And Real Madrid is a great example to remember this. 17 years after Florentino Pérez returned to the white presidency and signed Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso and Ricardo Kaká in one go to dethrone Pep Guardiola's triumphant Barça, Leo Messi and company, the white leader, legitimized at the polls at the beginning of last June, is once again reaching for his wallet to challenge his eternal rival's reign.

Football historians recall that Real Madrid truly became great in the 1950s thanks to the European Cup. That newly created tournament became successful at a time when the Old Continent was still rebuilding after the Second World War. It was also a time when the Spanish national team was better known for its failures than for its successes — with the exception of the '64 Eurocup, held precisely in Spain—. So it suited the Franco regime well that the Madrid club, winner of the first five editions, became an ambassador for the country internationally. It was still a winning team that, in the domestic competition of the First Division, would also rack up League titles.

Florentino Pérez is not wasting time since he was re-elected president of Real Madrid. In just one week, the leader has made his mark on the transfer market. Besides signing José Mourinho as the new coach, he has also secured the arrival of defenders Ibrahima Konaté and Denzel Dumfries. But, above all, he has stuck his nose into Barça's plan to boycott him or, directly, take away the reinforcements he had in his sights. In just seven days, he has set out to increase the price of Julián Álvarez, has convinced Bernardo Silva with a hefty sum, and has finally managed to sign Marc Cucurella, a product of La Masia.

Goals, in football, we've seen many types. But this week, with the papal visit, we've seen some we didn't even know existed: "the Church's goals". Taking advantage of the visit of Leo XIV to the Santiago Bernabéu on Tuesday, Manolo Lama and his battle companion, Paco González, were in charge of narrating a curious spectacle. "You can really tell God is captaining this feat," said the usual commentator on Cadena COPE (the radio of the Episcopal Conference) for Real Madrid matches, as a series of balls were kicked into improvised goals set up in front of the Pope.

Florentino Pérez will be president of Real Madrid until 2030, or at least that's what the results of this Sunday's elections at the white club indicate, which will be remembered for a chaotic vote count. With this new four-year mandate, Florentino will be close to almost 30 years at the helm of the club (he has been there since 2000 with a single interruption between 2006 and 2009). Now, he begins a new stage marked by internal, but also external challenges. For the first time, he will have active opposition. Enrique Riquelme, his opponent in the elections, to whom 35% of the members have given their support –a figure that has been interpreted as a wake-up call to Florentino–, has made it clear that he has come to stay: "This is not the end of anything, but the beginning of a path". But what will this path be like? And above all, will he be the only stumbling block for the white president?

Florentino Pérez called elections last May 12 with the intention that they would not be held, but the move backfired and the members not only voted for the first time in twenty years, but one in three of those who voted did so to tell him that they no longer want him as president. In less than a month, Florentino has discovered that he has opposition and, despite winning the elections, he has lost the referendum. Now he will retreat to his winter quarters after appearing on El chiringuito to boast, and will leave the cameras and microphones to José Mourinho, who will be the face and voice of Real Madrid, a terrible piece of news however you look at it.

1. Real Madrid has had a blank season in football. And in basketball. And in women's football. One hundred percent failures. Not a single title for the club with the best record in history. Faced with Flick's Barça's successes, a large smokescreen was needed, and Florentino Pérez invented express elections so that Madridism would have a democratic appearance. He has won them overwhelmingly. No surprise. Now he will be able to do what he wanted: sell 5% –or 10%– of the club's ownership to generate close to the billion euros that Madrid urgently needs. The cost overrun of the works on the Bernabéu stadium – the mess has not only been architectural – forces them to generate income from wherever, even if it means that the members will no longer be the owners of the entire club.

Florentino Pérez will continue to preside over Real Madrid after a chaotic night regarding the count. Despite the challenge of 1,000 mail-in votes in favor of Florentino, which caused the count to begin after 9 PM, the constructor emerged victorious from an election decided in the early hours, without debates and with little information. Pérez boasted to the press at 1 AM after defeating Enrique Riquelme at the end of a long day where information was lacking at times. In fact, while the count of the first election in 20 years at the club was underway, Madrid's television channel was showing past Champions League finals. And when Florentino announced his victory, he did so without providing official figures. At 2:12 AM, the club published the final results: Florentino won with 21,741 votes, 65% of the support, and Enrique Riquelme received 11,814 votes, 35%.

For some time now, Spanish politics has been immersed in a permanent electoral campaign, due to the calling of elections at the state, autonomous community, or municipal level. On the other hand, they cannot say the same for the world of football and, in particular, for Real Madrid. Twenty years later, the Whites are holding elections this Sunday and the campaign has suggested that, whatever the result, it will inevitably mean a mutation of the club: Florentino Pérez, president since 2009, has opened Pandora's box of ownership by rolling out the red carpet for a private investor. Meanwhile, Enrique Riquelme, his first opponent in history, has emerged as a critique of the model of recent years, promising a sporting structure that is "serious, modern, and profoundly madridista" and capable, he says, of leaving behind the low points the white team is going through. He has also promised a way of governing that is "transparent" and "more democratic." During the campaign, there has, of course, been talk of players and coaches. The candidates have promised the signing of great players, but depending on what happens, Madrid will experience very profound changes off the field.

Informatively, the interest in Real Madrid's elections is unquestionable, but the level of the two presidential candidates demonstrates that the type of leadership in the world of football – there and here – is very low. They are privileged gentlemen with an outsized ego who confuse the part with the whole. In short, toxic masculinities with different styles, but with the same essence. For now, the one who has already won the white elections by sheer patheticness is a Florentino Pérez who has become an erratic being who rambles on repeating battles from 25 years ago, whatever the format: press conference or a massage-interview with friends like Iker Jiménez. It's easy to imagine a maid from an ex-colony cutting the hake into very small pieces so as not to choke. The opponent, however, is no anti-dandruff shampoo: Enrique Riquelme is the same old song, but further from the nursing home.

Thursday night, Florentino Pérez went to campaign for the Real Madrid presidency elections on Horizonte, the far-right television nest at Mediaset. That Iker Jiménez, an expert in aliens and psychophony, interviewed him is the real paranormal phenomenon of journalism. Obviously, it was an act of revenge against Atresmedia for having invited his opponent, Enrique Riquelme, to El hormiguero the night before. But it was a bad idea to choose a program that was broadcast while the Spanish national team was playing. Part of the electorate must have been watching La 1 at that time.