Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez staged a defiant press conference that veered from institutional announcements to a heated broadside against Spanish media, declaring "No voy a dimitir" (I will not resign) as he confirmed early elections and a blistering attack on his critics.
The 79-year-old construction magnate, who has led the club for most of the past two decades, opened the appearance with a pledge to deliver a 500-page dossier on the Negreira case to UEFA, a long-running scandal involving payments by Barcelona to a former refereeing official. The move signals an escalating offensive by Madrid against what Pérez calls institutional corruption, even as Spanish authorities have declined to sanction Barça.
But the core purpose of the press conference soon dissolved into an unscripted airing of grievances. Pérez fumbled through a disordered stack of papers, his disorganization mirroring the defensive chaos that has plagued the team this season, before launching into a list of media enemies he accused of orchestrating a campaign against him.
He singled out ABC newspaper, vowing to cancel his subscription, and rattled off names like Relevo, veteran journalist José María García, radio host Juanma Castaño, and the so-called 'Segurolas boys' and 'Relaño' factions. "Me voy a dar de baja del ABC," he said, a priority that bewildered fans expecting clarity on sporting failures.
The backdrop to this spectacle is a season of underachievement. Despite heavy investment in players, Madrid have struggled for consistency, and pressure has mounted on Pérez to refresh squad planning and communication strategy. The press conference appeared to lack the careful staging of modern image management, a shortcoming analyzed sharply by Marca's José Luis Hurtado, who noted that the club "needs both two central midfielders and a head of image."
Pérez's decision to call elections, though expected, now places the presidency formally in play. No serious challenger has emerged, but the theatre of Tuesday's event could embolden dissident voices among the socios. His fixation on a conspiracy narrative, coupled with lapses in decorum—he referred to a respected female journalist as "esa niña" and dismissed male colleagues as "muy feos"—risks alienating a membership historically sensitive to institutional dignity.
Yet Pérez retains deep reservoirs of support. Reminding the room that he presides over a company with "170,000 employees," he insisted that "la gente me cree a mí" (the people believe me). The statement underlined his political instinct: in the arena of socios, loyalty to the patriarch often trumps doubts about management style.
The Negreira dossier, he revealed, will be submitted to European football's governing body, potentially reopening a case that Spanish prosecutors shelved for lack of evidence of competitive distortion. If UEFA acts, the consequences for Barcelona could range from fines to exclusion from European competition, a development that would reshape Spanish football's landscape and vindicate Madrid's long campaign against the refereeing establishment.
As the press conference wound past its intended cut-off, a visibly heated Pérez pressed on, abandoning any remaining script. "Florentino no se va a ir. Me tendrán que echar a tiros," he concluded—"I'm not leaving. They will have to shoot me out." He then gathered his papers and left, capping what Hurtado described as "a tribute to what is coming, Mourinho would not have done it better."
The episode encapsulates a presidency at a crossroads. With elections looming, an underperforming team, and an intensifying institutional war against Barcelona over referee integrity, Pérez has chosen confrontation as his campaign platform. Whether the socios see strength or instability in his performance will define the next chapter at the Santiago Bernabéu.
Based on reporting from Marca.
