Real Madrid president Florentino Perez will miss Saturday’s Clasico against Barcelona.
The 76-year-old Perez, who was absent from the last two games at the Camp Nou due to the dispute between the clubs related to the Negrera case, was ready to attend the match at Montjuic.
But Real Madrid sources, who were not authorized to speak publicly, told The Athletic that despite a directors’ lunch set for 1pm in Barcelona, a series of recent events has caused a change in Perez’s plans.
Those latest comments by Barcelona president Joan Laporta criticizing Real’s apparent power and influence over the Negrera case drew criticism from fans at Monday’s La Liga conference by Laporta and Real chief executive Jose Ángel Sanchez. But the trigger appears to have been a now-deleted tweet from the account of Barcelona board member Mikel Camps criticizing Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior after he took several actions during the Champions League win over Braga.
The tweet Read: “It’s not racism, it’s racist and deserves to be slapped.” What do these unnecessary and pointless actions mean in the middle of the field?
On Wednesday, Barcelona manager Xavi Perez played down reports that he would miss the Clasico, but said: “I don’t like anything that creates tension before a game like this.”
Barcelona vice-president Rafael Yuste condemned Camps’ tweet and said his behavior would not be repeated.
Yuste told Spanish broadcaster Movistar: “It’s a bad comment to make, even if it’s not true. “It was a big mistake. If Vinicius is listening, I can tell him that this will never happen again.”
According to the plan, Real Madrid were to be represented by the club’s vice-president Eduardo Fernandez de Blas and the club’s famous and current director of institutional relations, Emilio Butragueno, but Real Madrid canceled the pre-arrangement. – Match lunch.
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Perez is currently mourning the death of his close friend Fernando Fernandez Tapias, Real Madrid’s first vice president.
However, the relationship between the clubs worsened following the Negerera case.
Since March, Barcelona have been accused of corruption in the payment of a total of 7.3 million euros (6.3 million pounds, $7.7 million at current exchange rates) to Jose Maria Enriquez Negrera, the vice-president of the Spanish Football Referees Committee. Spanish Public Prosecutor’s Office. The case relates to payments made between 2001 and 2018.
Negrera said he did not support Barcelona in the referee’s decision. Barcelona have said they have done nothing wrong and hired Negrera as an “external consultant” earlier this year, who submitted reports “related to professional refereeing”.
El Clásico will be played at the Estadio Olimpico Luis Compañías, with Real Madrid at the top of La Liga and Barcelona third.
LaLiga, on the other hand, expressed their disappointment that the game was not shown in the United Kingdom. The UK’s 3pm cut-off rule means the game will not be shown in the country.
LaLiga representative Keegan Pearce said:“We are disappointed that England fans will not be able to watch El Clasico this weekend, due to England’s self-imposed blackout at 3pm on Saturday night.
“Whilst we fully support measures to increase attendance up and down the pyramid, we believe that the loss should be limited to domestic football television, not foreign competitions that have no voice in the matter.”
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(Photo: Oscar J. Barroso/Europa Press via Getty Images)
