Real Madrid president Florentino Perez slams UEFA, La Liga and Barcelona

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has slammed UEFA, La Liga and rivals FC Barcelona at the club’s Annual General Meeting.

Perez calls for the European Super League again

“Football is undergoing an unprecedented institutional crisis at every level, in Spain and in Europe,” Perez said. The situation is serious. We must change, or football as we know it won’t survive.

“The main problem is that the organisers aren’t thinking about the fans. European football doesn’t belong to the UEFA president [Aleksander Ceferin], and Spanish football doesn’t belong to the LaLiga president [Javier Tebas].”

Furthermore, he also said that the European Super League is “more necessary than ever” and called UEFA’s new Champions League format “absurd”.

Perez slams VAR’s situation in La Liga

Real Madrid has suffered from VAR’s decision this season alongside other La Liga clubs and have criticised their decisions via the club’s in-house television channel.

“It’s essential for the wellbeing of Spanish football that things like the quality of refereeing and the use of VAR are dealt with,” Perez said. “Nobody understands who draws the [VAR] lines, nobody understands why we don’t see the whole image for offsides. It’s generating more doubts.

“I believe the Spanish Government will take steps to improve refereeing bodies in this country. This is urgent, more urgent than ever. The credibility of our competition has been damaged.”

Real Madrid president criticises Barcelona for Negreira case

Florentino Perez also spoke about the ongoing investigation into Barcelona’s payments to former vice-president of Spain’s refereeing committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

“It’s in the hands of the judges, and we respect that,” Perez said. But it isn’t normal that a club paid €8 million over 20 years to the vice-president of the referees’ committee.

“Real Madrid were admitted [to the proceedings] as an injured party. This case is seriously damaging the image of Spanish football. We believe in the justice system.”