Jorge Valdano hits out at Florentino Pérez: ”Baffling weakness” | OneFootball

The former Real Madrid player and coach, and world champion with Argentina at Mexico 1986, did not hesitate to make his position clear regarding the press conference Florentino Pérez gave to present his side of the story to the Spanish media.

A few days ago, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez called the media to the auditorium at the Valdebebas training complex to deny some reports that had emerged recently, both about his health and his management, at the end of a season in which results did not go Real Madrid’s way.

This came on top of the fact that last Thursday, May 14, before and during the match Álvaro Arbeloa’s team played against Oviedo at the Santiago Bernabéu on Matchday 36 of LaLiga, there were banners and chants from some fans calling for him to resign from his position as head of Los Blancos.

On the matter, Jorge Valdano — former player, former coach, and former sporting director of Real Madrid — shared his opinion in his column for the newspaper El País: «Florentino seemed comfortable showing his fury in front of the microphones. Outraged by the rumors about his health, he appeared in public as never before. As expected, his speech went viral and became politicized.»

In addition, the world champion said the appearance exposed his vulnerability in the face of his detractors: «Madrid represents power and, let’s not kid ourselves, Florentino Pérez does too. That idea is already embedded in society and needs no underlining. Appearing to flex business muscle and boast about footballing achievements is a bewildering sign of weakness in such a powerful man.»

To close, Valdano made it clear that he did not think Florentino Pérez’s decision to come out and confront the media was the right one: “Coming out to fight with words when the facts are not enough is a bad idea. Especially when there is no shortage of successes to show off.”

Real Madrid still have to fulfill the remainder of their LaLiga schedule, even though the title has already been decided in favor of FC Barcelona. This Sunday, May 17, they will face Sevilla at the Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán Stadium, while they will close out the 2025/2026 season at the Santiago Bernabéu on Saturday the 23rd against Athletic Bilbao.

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