Real Madrid president will not change on stance on El Clasico snub – report | OneFootball

According to AS, Florentino Perez will not travel to Barcelona for tomorrow’s El Clasico. The Real Madrid president is maintaining the stance he adopted in 2023 after the eruption of the ‘Negreira Case’, refusing to sit in the directors’ box at FC Barcelona matches.

The Los Blancos chief did not attend the games played at Montjuic in the past couple of seasons and will also stay away from the Spotify Camp Nou this weekend. The position remains firm.

There will also be no meeting between members of the two clubs’ hierarchies, underlining how strained relations between Barça and Real Madrid continue to be.

No change in stance

The decision was made several days ago, although the distance between the two institutions dates back to 19 March 2023, barely a month after the ‘Negreira Case’ became public.

For the first time in 20 years, Perez refused to attend a match at Barcelona’s stadium, and that approach has remained unchanged ever since.

Florentino Perez will snub the Clasico at Camp Nou. (Photo by Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)

From Barcelona’s side, the feeling is similar. Barcelona were not especially keen on holding a formal directors’ lunch either, particularly after Real Madrid joined the Negreira investigation as a private prosecutor. That move further damaged relations between the clubs.

Saudi Arabia has been the exception. While there were no official directors’ lunches during Spanish Super Cup meetings there, representatives from both clubs did meet informally.

In 2024, for example, club officials gathered at the Spanish embassy in Riyadh alongside representatives from the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) to pose with the Super Cup trophy.

In La Liga fixtures, however, there have been no directors’ lunches since the controversy began. Earlier this season, the first league El Clasico kicked off at 4:15pm, effectively ruling out any possibility of a formal gathering.

And now, for this latest meeting, Perez will once again stay away from Barcelona, continuing the policy he first introduced in 2023.