Real Madrid does not consider the publication in the digital newspaper El Confidencial of some audios from 2006 accidental, in which the then-resigned president Florentino Pérez criticized several players from the club, mainly Iker Casillas and Raúl González. Sources of the entity believe that it is a conspiracy to undermine the credibility of Pérez at a time when he has become the flag of the Superliga against institutions such as UEFA and the Professional Football League, which pressure at all levels to tear down the project.
The president himself made a statement on the club's website in which he accuses the journalist José Antonio Abellán of having secretly recorded the conversations:
The statement reads the following:
“Given the news broadcast in El Confidencial in which phrases attributed to me are collected, I think it necessary to clarify:
The reproduced phrases are pronounced in conversations secretly recorded by Mr. José Antonio Abellán, who has been trying to sell them for many years without success. It is surprising now that, despite the time that has elapsed, the newspaper El Confidencial collects them today.
They are single phrases of conversations taken out of the broad context in which they occur.
Let them reproduce now, after so many years have passed since those conversations took place, I understand that it is due to my participation as one of the promoters of the Super League.
I have put the matter in the hands of my lawyers who are studying the possible actions to exercise “.
The club understands that the leak of conversations from fifteen years ago can be explained only by the conflict in the Super League and that They occurred when Florentino Pérez had already resigned as president of the entity. It should be remembered that Pérez won the elections in 2000 and after a successful stage (one Champions League and two Leagues) he decided to resign at a time of sports crisis.
Madrid understands that the leak responds to a strategy to try to overthrow his project to modify European competitions, supported by Barcelona and Juventus and initially also by Atlético de Madrid and several English clubs. The latter had to back down due to pressure from UEFA and their own government. Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus maintained their position and have received the support of the Commercial Court number 17 of Madrid for the legitimacy of their plan. In fact, UEFA opened a sanctioning file against the three clubs with the intention of removing them from European competitions, but its Appeal Committee had to back down pending a resolution from the Superior Court of Justice of the European Union, which must rule on whether the highest body of continental football is committing an abuse of dominant position.
Florentino Pérez confirms is studying the possibility of taking legal action against El Confidencial because it considers that the audios were obtained at the time illegally.