‘Brave and valiant’ - The baffling view in Spain of Super League turncoat Florentino Perez

[ASFN Admin]

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez is a pariah in the UK for his failed European Super League insurrection - but within Spain he is still the one pulling the strings. Perez has been synonymous with power for too long for this tumultuous week to be more than a setback. The 74-year-old is damaged but not defeated. The Super League was regarded as more intriguing than controversial in Spain, in part because the major sports pages are closely allied to Real Madrid or Barcelona. For Madrid publications Marca and AS, waging war on Perez does not make sense. There is too much to lose, especially after he was re-elected president of his club for the fifth consecutive term earlier in April. Easy, when you run unopposed after changing club statutes to shut out challengers. He is protected, insulated, both within Madrid and outside it. Madrid and Barcelona each have one billion euros worth of debt to clear, and it is apparent that a Super League would be one way to do it. Real Madrid supporters have been cold-blooded about developments. As record 13-time champions of Europe, some believe they have outgrown their pond and deserve better competition, facing Manchester United, not Elche, Juventus, not Levante. As fans raged outside Stamford Bridge and Elland Road and the plot was torpedoed, Birmingham City defender Mikel San Jose, formerly of Athletic Bilbao mused: “I have always been fascinated by the football culture in England. Today you have done it again.” The Spaniard was not alone. La Liga president Javier Tebas noted the Super League ringleaders did not understand the strength of feeling English supporters have. The uprising of English fans was greeted with admiration but it was not replicated on the Iberian peninsula. “FC Barcelona is our life, not your toy. No to the Super League!” read a banner draped on the fence around Camp Nou. Yet this was the sole sign of discontent at the country’s two most hallowed footballing cathedrals. The rebel league was far less toxic in Spain. “Perez has been brave and valiant,” argued former Real Madrid defender and manager Jose Antonio Camacho, on the other hand. “Everyone deems him responsible, but the responsibility is divided with eleven other presidents." La Liga teams not invited to Perez’s project wore t-shirts ahead of matches last week, demanding Spain’s giants “Earn it,” but that was all, until the one player who always talks, talked.

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