Spanish Newspaper Responds Sharply to Florentino Pérez

Spanish newspaper ABC has responded with two editorials to the targeted attacks made by Florentino Pérez during his press conference on Tuesday. The media outlet accuses the Real Madrid president of fabricating imaginary enemies.

The 'Los Blancos' boss claimed the club was the target of a conspiracy. He lashed out at ABC, which he believes is responsible for tarnishing the club and his personal image, implying he was "tired." His arguments were marred by sexist comments directed at a female journalist from the publication. "Look at the two articles they published today, by a woman, who I don't know if she understands football or not," he stated, promising to cancel the subscription his father had given him.

The journalist in question, María José Fuenteálamo, responded to him in an editorial. "Florentino spoke about me without naming me. 'I don't know if a woman understands football or not.' Here is that woman, still in shock. When you're in the spotlight and you publish things others don't want you to publish, you get used to attacks from politicians, corrupt or allegedly corrupt individuals trying to discredit you and even take you to court... But for the president of Real Madrid to dedicate a few words to me just because I expressed my opinion? To this unknown journalist who doesn't even write about sports? I didn't expect it."

She revisited the content of the article criticized by Pérez, in which she lamented the negative consequences of the crisis at Real Madrid on society and children. "I didn't expect these references to football, not because I don't talk about it in my column," she explained. "In it, I talk about what Real Madrid, as a historic institution, represents for society. For its colors. For sportsmanship. It doesn't matter if basketball, baseball, or marbles are played at the Bernabéu – a note for later: to ask my colleagues in the sports department if marbles count as a sport. Because I am a mother and I know what children play, who their idols are, and how to cultivate good role models. Because I also live in the neighborhood where the stadium is located. Yes, Mr. President, that's me. A woman, oh, a woman, what does it matter if she understands football? She knows the damage that happens outside the Bernabéu. Because it's not about football. And now I ask myself if you know it or not."

The newspaper also published a second editorial, expressing regret over Pérez's misinterpretations during his "long, disjointed, and at times confused" speech. "Pérez dedicated a large part of his speech to creating imaginary enemies," the publication declared. "The main one was this newspaper, to which he dedicated 15 of the 65 minutes of his speech. It was particularly telling that, unable to formulate real complaints or point to objective falsehoods published by this newspaper, he reduced his reproaches to an article that appeared a few hours earlier, which, citing direct sources, repeated a phrase from his inner circle: 'I'm tired.' Nothing more. No illness, no medical speculation, no personal insinuations. Pérez himself had explicitly stated that rumors about his health were circulating. ABC did not. And there's a reason why: the real stake was elsewhere, much more obvious: the political, institutional, even physical exhaustion of a leader subjected to extraordinary pressure for years."

According to ABC, Pérez's "fatigue" manifested in "the difficulty he had in constructing a coherent speech on the club's real problems." "ABC has been subjected to immense political, economic, and institutional pressure throughout its history," the editorial concluded. "The newspaper has never stopped informing and will continue to do so. Real Madrid is an iconic institution, closely followed by our publication and its readers. That is precisely why we will continue to cover everything that happens at the club, even if it makes its president uncomfortable. Even if he has decided not to pay for the subscription his father bequeathed him anymore."