MADRID (AP) 鈥� An edgy Real Madrid president Florentino P茅rez confronted journalists in a rare news conference on Tuesday and claimed he was the victim of an 鈥渙rganized campaign鈥� to unseat him.
P茅rez called for new club elections and told his opponents to present themselves and challenge him and his board of directors.
Usually calm and soft-spoken, P茅rez appeared agitated and got into discussions with journalists during the hastily scheduled news conference at the club鈥檚 training center, two days after and saw its Catalan rival clinch its second straight Spanish league title.
鈥淚 made this decision because of this absurd situation of campaigns against me,鈥� the 79-year-old P茅rez said. 鈥淭he results haven鈥檛 been the greatest, but that has happened other times before. But they are taking advantage to attack me.鈥�
He said the campaign against him was being 鈥渙rchestrated by bad journalists and non journalists.鈥�
鈥淪ome journalists and people want to destroy Real Madrid,鈥� he said. 鈥淚’ll always defend the interest of the Madrid members.鈥�
The president spoke after a meeting of the club鈥檚 board of directors.
Madrid has endured a second consecutive season without a major trophy, despite having in the squad.
P茅rez did not speak about the team’s results, saying his appearance was solely to defend Madrid club members from attacks. He did not want to talk about a potential coaching change when asked about the possibility of Jos茅 Mourinho returning next season.
P茅rez said the leak of the fighting between players during training last week 鈥� which led to Federico Valverde and Aur茅lien Tchouam茅ni being fined ($586,000) each 鈥� was worse than the actual fight itself.
鈥淚t’s not the first time that players fight with each other,鈥� P茅rez said. 鈥淚t happens almost every season. But someone leaked it for the first time. And we know who it was. It should have stayed within the club.鈥� He gave no further details.
P茅rez dismissed rumors that he was tired of the job, or sick, saying they had been spread by his detractors.
鈥淭hey said I have cancer and that it was terminal,” he said. 鈥淚t was the most undignified thing that has ever happened to me. They said I didn’t go out, that I couldn’t walk.鈥�
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