Florentino copies Laporta and hangs a giant banner next to the Bernabéu

BarcelonaFlorentino Pérez has launched the electoral campaign to remain at the presidency of Real Madrid in the purest Joan Laporta style. In a surprise move revealed this Saturday morning, the veteran white leader has hung a giant banner on a building near the Santiago Bernabéu with a photo of himself and the following phrase: "A lot of history to make". Florentino accompanies the image with the seven cities where, under his presidential mandates, the merengue team has been proclaimed European champion: Glasgow (2002), Lisbon (2014), Milan (2016), Cardiff (2017), Kyiv (2018), Paris (2022) and London (2024).

The promotional action recalls Laporta's in late 2020, when he was still a pre-candidate for the elections that he would later win on March 7, 2021 against Víctor Font and Toni Freixa. On that occasion, the current Barça president wrote "Looking forward to seeing you again". A message to the eternal rival referring to his first spell at the helm of the Catalan club, where he achieved the sextuple in 2009. Florentino's banner, moreover, is placed right in the same residential building near the Bernabéu.

Florentino is now an official candidate

The current top leader of Real Madrid will have to face Enrique Riquelme in the elections for the presidency of the white team. The Alicante businessman, however, will have to manage to gather the necessary guarantees before midnight this Saturday. For now, Andbank Spain has refused to guarantee Riquelme's candidacy, which has forced the businessman to look for other financial entities.

A guarantee that Florentino Pérez has not had to present, as he is seeking re-election. The current president is already —after the announcement by the Electoral Board— officially a candidate, while time continues to run against Riquelme. Florentino has already begun to make his move in case he has to compete for the presidency of Real Madrid at the polls. If confirmed, it would be the first elections at the Madrid club since 2006, twenty years later. At that time, Ramón Calderón won after Florentino's resignation.