Florentino Pérez officially launched his campaign for the Real Madrid presidential elections with a lengthy speech delivered before a packed hotel in Madrid, where he directly targeted rival candidate Enrique Riquelme on several occasions.

Unlike Riquelme, who has repeatedly described Florentino as “the best president in Real Madrid's history” despite criticizing aspects of the club’s management, Pérez adopted a far more confrontational tone.

“For months I have been detecting a shadow campaign against Real Madrid. It is not true that I am preventing the elections. Now that there is an alternative candidate, everything makes sense. They are the same people who orchestrated the most sinister period in Real Madrid's history, the era of Ramón Calderón. They are the same people who were at an assembly that we would all like to erase from our memory, where the members' sovereignty was stolen. We already know how the Ramón Calderón era ended, a president who had to leave after the greatest disgrace in 124 years of history,” Florentino said.

The current president then directly connected Riquelme’s candidacy to the Calderón era, referencing the fact that the businessman’s father served on the club’s Board of Directors during that period.

“Now the sons, brothers-in-law, and even directors are running; they have absolutely no shame after that. They're not here to serve Real Madrid, they're here to take advantage of Madrid.”

Florentino Pérez also questioned Riquelme’s business credentials by referring to a Bloomberg report about the Cox Group.

“Do you really think that someone who takes out loans for his companies at an annual interest rate of 54%, hiding it from the National Securities Market Commission, is qualified to preside over Real Madrid? Now we understand why no Spanish bank wanted to guarantee him. We understand. What kind of solvency is he to defend Real Madrid in a pinch? I'm a Real Madrid fan, and others want Real Madrid for themselves.”

The Real Madrid president also responded to accusations from Riquelme regarding the possible privatization of the club.

“We now propose going further, that the members become the true owners of the assets we have built. Not only emotionally, but also legally and financially. It is the exact opposite of privatization. It is giving ownership of the club, truly, to those who should always have it.”

********************************************************

You can now download the Madridista News App for free on the Apple Store and Google Play.

You can follow us on Facebook here.

You can follow us on X (Twitter) here.                                                                    

You can follow us on Instagram here.

You can subscribe to our YouTube channel here.

You can follow us on Telegram here.

You can follow us on TikTok here.

You can join our WhatsApp channel here.