Incredible whining press conference from Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez on Monday, where he confirmed his support for Rafa Benítez which has been called into question after the team’s humbling defeat against Barcelona on Saturday.
As we all know, the squad has been under increasing pressure since January of this year”, he said. He also mentioned the numerous injuries the team has struggled with in the opening months of this season.
“The solution to this is Rafa Benitez. We signed him to turn things around. We think he is the right person. But we must let him work — not listen to those making up lies that board doesn’t want him, or the players don’t want him.
“He has a good relationship with the players, with the board, and me in particular. We understand the anger of fans after Saturday, but ask for support for our players.”
But after that, Perez went into the full victim mode, when he responded to a question from the press, the Real president emphatically revealed he feels:
“There is a campaign against me – I know it, we all know it”
“It is not habitual for us to be permanently denying things. But I understand that there are some journalists who want to destabilise us,” he said. “On Saturday, a sports paper from Madrid said that according to Radio Montecarlo I had dinner with the PSG president and — what’s his name — [Ronaldo’s agent] Jorge Mendes to talk about Cristiano.
“There are people who lie to damage Real Madrid. They think that, without me, they would have more influence in the club. I could say many more things.
“Never has Cristiano Ronaldo said to me ‘With this coach, or this club, we will win nothing.’ [Ronaldo] has never said anything about anyone, he is a good guy, all that comes out about me wanting to sell him, meeting with people, is people wanting to destabilise the club. It happens every day.”
The situation in Madrid is a mess. You have a coach that the players and fans don’t want, but with no ready made replacement available at the moment, by default Rafa keeps his job.
Then you have an embattled president, who is seeing a conspiracy behind every corner, and it under fire from the fans. It promises to be a train wreck of a season at the Santiago Bernabéu.
