Real Madrid

  Real Madrid president Florentino Perez on Tuesday called club elections and announced that he would stand again. “I am not going to resign,” the 79-year-old Perez told a press conference towards the end of a season in which Real Madrid will finish trophyless. Barcelona defeated Real Madrid 2-0 in the Clasico at Camp Nou on Sunday to claim back-to-back La Liga titles with three games to spare. Madrid bowed out of the Champions League with a quarter-final exit against Bayern Munich. Current Real coach Alvaro Arbeloa, who replaced Xabi Alonso in January, is unlikely to remain at the helm next season and former Madrid coach Jose Mourinho has been linked with a potential return. This season has seen Madrid finish without a major trophy for a second year running. Fans have been protesting against star player Kylian Mbappe for a perceived lack of commitment, while there are stories of multiple training ground bust-ups, including one that sent midfielder Fede Valverde to the hospital. Perez justified his bid for a new term in response to what he dubbed an “absurd campaign” against Real Madrid. “I’ve made this decision because an absurd situation has been created to generate a tide of opinion against the interests of Real Madrid,” argued Perez. “I’ve been here 26 years, and it’s been a wonderful time.” Perez took aim at media campaigns and other personalities, claiming they were taking advantage of this season’s poor results to target him personally. “I want to put an end to this anti-Madrid current that wants to destroy Real Madrid,” he said. “I’m standing for re-election to return the club’s assets to its members. “If anyone wants to run, they shouldn’t just pretend — let them run, but let them say what they’re going to do, how they’re going to finance everything.” Perez added: “They say out there that Real Madrid is a problem case, but it’s the most prestigious club in the world.” But he admitted that he was as frustrated as the rest of Madrid’s fans about the lack of trophies for the second consecutive year and also about the altercation between Valverde and Aurelien Tchouameni. “I think it is very bad and I think it’s even worse that it was made public,” Perez said of the clash, which ended with both players being fined 500,000 euros. Perez added that he and his backers were putting together a 500-page dossier that he will send to UEFA over allegations of corruption in Spanish refereeing. “It’s the most serious case of corruption in football,” he said. “I’ve only won seven Champions League titles and seven league titles, when I could have won 14 because the others were stolen from me.” Barcelona are currently being investigated by Spanish authorities in a sports corruption case after paying the former vice-president of Spain’s refereeing committee (CTA), Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, seven million euros ($8.3 million) over several years. The club deny any wrongdoing.