Florentino Perez compares European Super League to Federer vs Nadal

The Real Madrid president defended the idea behind the breakaway competition despite the majority of founding members outlining their intent to leave

Florentino Perez has compared the European Super League to Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal and insists he is open to ideas to change the breakaway competition in order to make it work.

The Real Madrid president defended the idea behind the rival tournament to the Uefa Champions League, while reiterating that there is an urgent need for change due to financial uncertainty at Europe’s top clubs, which have been accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

And despite founding members Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Atletico Madrid and Inter Milan stating their desire to leave the competition, Perez said the ESL would represent the blockbuster matches seen in tennis.

“This is a pyramid, and the money runs down, there would be money for everyone,” Perez told El Larguero.

“If Nadal plays Federer, everyone watches, if Nadal plays the number 80 in the world, nobody watches.

“Football changes, and new generations appear and ask for different things,” Perez added. “We think they want the same as us, but they don’t. Today there are many distractions for kids, we need to get them to watch football, with competitive games, so TV pays.

“The contracts are signed by serious people, businessmen who know this world. We agreed last night to wait and to try and explain better, and we are open to other ideas.

“The problems is they (Ceferin) killed us the very next day, with terrible aggression. We have made some mistakes for sure. But they knew what we were going to do, and were waiting for us. Those who do not want to lose their privileges.”