Real Madrid president Florentino Perez insists that The Super League still exists while Barcelona president Joan Laporta also maintains support, saying: “We are keeping a prudent stance. It is a necessity.”
The breakaway league collapsed just 48 hours after being formed due to pressures from football fans, players, coaching staff and the media who called it many things but good for being created.
It was just on Sunday that 12 of Europe’s famous clubs – the Premier League’s ‘Big Six’, Spain’s big three – Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona and Italy’s most decorated clubs – Juventus, Inter Milan and AC Milan – confirmed the launch of a new midweek European competition from August 2021.
However, the plans began to crumble on Tuesday, when Chelsea and Manchester City were the first teams to withdraw from the competition following a furious backlash from supporters, the Premier League, the UEFA, the British government and many more who were completely against the idea of this Super League.
Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal and Tottenham all followed suit as they also pulled out later on Tuesday night, leaving Juventus chairman Andrea Agnelli to admit on Wednesday morning that the Super League had to be suspended.
Inter Milan, AC Milan and Atletico Madrid also withdrew on Wednesday, but Perez – who is the chairman of the league – is undeterred in his aims of getting this Super League up and running.
He told Spanish radio show El Larguero: “If anyone thinks the Super League is dead, are they wrong? Absolutely.
“We’re going to keep working and what everyone thinks is for the best will emerge.
“The project is on standby. The Super League still exists.”
“I’m a bit sad and disappointed because we’ve been working on this project for three years,” he said.
“There was someone in the group of six English teams who wasn’t that interested and I think that started to become contagious among the others.
“There are people of a certain age involved and maybe they were scared because they didn’t understand anything that was going on. We all signed a binding contract, but I don’t think that one of them was ever convinced.
“In the end, there was an onslaught from the leagues and the Premier League got fired up, so they said, ‘we’ll leave it for now’.”
A joint statement from the English, Spanish and Italian FAs and leagues, plus the UEFA, on Sunday, threatened the 12 Super League clubs with expulsion from their domestic competitions and suggested their players could be banned from representing their countries in international competitions as well.
Supporters were fuming with Chelsea fans protesting outside Stamford Bridge before their game against Brighton on Tuesday night that held up the team bus for 45 minutes.
The Real Madrid president has made some scathing claims, telling El Larguero that “40 Chelsea fans” were protesting, adding, “I can tell you who got them there if you want.” However, he produced no evidence to substantiate his claims, and images from Stamford Bridge showed hundreds of supporters gathered there to protest the formation of The Super League.
He also believes that the failure to establish the league will prevent the largest clubs from being able to afford the biggest upcoming stars, saying: “As for signings like [Erling] Haaland or [Kylian] Mbappe, they won’t exist without the Super League.
“During the pandemic, they won’t exist for Real Madrid or for any club.”
However, Perez insisted Mbappe could still sign for Los Blancos.
“Does it mean we won’t sign Mbappe? No, I didn’t say that,” he said. “We’re now in the final stage of this season and want to finish it as strongly as possible.
“We don’t know. If Mbappe doesn’t join this year, nobody is going to shoot themselves.
“People know what I’m like and what I do. If something doesn’t happen, it’s because it’s not possible.
“As for big signings in the future without a Super League, they certainly won’t happen.”
