Castaño hits back at Florentino: He lost the big battles, now me | OneFootball

Juanma Castaño has decided to respond to Real Madrid, but by pointing directly at Florentino Pérez. After the video released on the club’s official channels compiling his appearances over the last decade, the host of COPE’s El Partidazo devoted a good part of his early-morning show to defending himself and personally blamed the president for the offensive.

"Florentino Pérez is continuing the crusade he has taken up against me," Castaño began, calling it "absolutely unprecedented" that Real Madrid’s official social media should be used to publish a montage about a journalist. The club had previously responded to his comparison between Real Madrid TV and the newspaper Gara, for which Castaño apologized.

From Ceferin and Sánchez Galán to Juanma Castaño

The journalist believes that controversy served as a "crack" through which a battle he says goes back much further has emerged. He also took the opportunity to mock the caliber of the opponents chosen by Florentino: "I’m very surprised at how low the level of his enemies has sunk," he said before recalling other clashes involving the Real Madrid president.

"Florentino had Ceferin, the UEFA president, as an enemy, Sánchez Galán, the chairman of Iberdrola, and now suddenly he has taken me and El Partidazo as enemies," he said. Castaño went even further by arguing that this situation "shows a certain weakness": "When you’re worried about Juanma Castaño and El Partidazo, it means you’ve lowered the level of your battles a bit. Probably because you’ve lost the big battles."

Castaño also introduced another possible origin of the clash. He believes Florentino may have been upset that COPE reported his reaction upon discovering that Enrique Riquelme had been invited to the directors’ box at the Metropolitano during the derby. According to the station’s account at the time, the Real Madrid president had threatened to leave the stadium if he ran into his former election rival.

"Madrid’s problem isn’t me"

"This is probably a situation that, when told on the radio, embarrassed Florentino a bit, or that he didn’t like becoming public," Castaño interpreted. And that led to his most direct response: "I’m not going to say whatever Florentino Pérez wants here. And that’s what Florentino handles worst. He has turned me into an enemy."

The journalist then went over several issues for which he has criticized the president: the Super League, the Bernabéu concerts and parking lots, and some sporting decisions. His argument is that he simply reports on and gives his opinion about decisions made by others. "Madrid’s problem isn’t me. Madrid’s problem is that Barça are six points ahead and playing very good football. And I have nothing to do with that."

Castaño said the videos and statements will not change the way he works. "It pisses me off, yes, it pisses me off. But it comes with the job," he admitted. He also announced that, from now on, he will try to explicitly separate Real Madrid from its president because he believes many Madrid fans do not share Florentino’s decisions or style.

And he left a door open far wider than any official statement ever could. Castaño pointed to the empty microphone on El Partidazo and invited the Real Madrid president to take it whenever he wants. "Let’s forget the videos, the statements, and the tweets. Let’s talk here, no problem," he challenged, before concluding: "I have no problem. He’s the one who does."

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.