Florentino Pérez is not backing down. The Real Madrid president doubled down on his explosive accusations against FC Barcelona during an interview on laSexta Wednesday night, refusing to retreat from the claims that have set Spanish football ablaze.
"Barça would do very well to sue me. If they think they have to do it, let them do it," Pérez declared when informed that Barcelona is reviewing legal options over his recent remarks. He did attempt to walk back his earlier suggestion that referees were "enriching themselves," calling it merely a figure of speech.
At the heart of the storm is the Negreira case—Barcelona's admitted past payments to José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice president of Spain's Technical Committee of Referees. While the club insists these were for legitimate technical reports, the ongoing court case has left the truth clouded. No public evidence has yet proven that referees were bribed, but Barcelona hasn't been cleared of the charges either.
Pérez remains unconvinced, alleging those reports were simply a cover "to fight against Madrid, with reports that do not exist." This latest broadside comes just as Barcelona celebrated a 2-0 El Clásico victory that sealed the La Liga title, leaving Real Madrid in disarray with rumors of training ground tensions among players.
Barcelona vice president Rafa Yuste had already dismissed Pérez's behavior as "pathetic and full of falsehoods" before the interview aired, suggesting the Real Madrid chief was orchestrating "a maneuver to cover up a sporting disaster." The Catalan club is reportedly meticulously studying legal avenues to defend its honor.
But Pérez is leaning hard into the conspiracy narrative as he prepares for early presidential elections at the Santiago Bernabéu. He revealed that Real Madrid is compiling a massive dossier documenting alleged refereeing bias, and claims he has even discussed the matter with UEFA president Aleksander Čeferin.
With tensions at fever pitch and the stakes higher than ever, Spanish football's most bitter rivalry has found a new battleground—one that extends far beyond the pitch. Whether this war of words ends in a courtroom or a ballot box, one thing is certain: El Clásico never sleeps.