Florentino: Losing Liga doesn’t matter

Florentino Perez says Real Madrid losing La Liga “doesn’t matter”, James Rodriguez and Casemiro can be “greats” and the Champions League format is worn.

In the second part of his Marca interview on Tuesday, as part of Madrid’s Champions League celebrations, Perez also felt it was “not normal” that Los Blancos had only won one League title under his watch and how the club would never resort to selling their stars.

“Real Madrid had a good League campaign and did [in the seasons] previously. Since I returned in 2009, the points we’ve picked up would’ve been enough to win all the other Leagues, the President continued.

“It’s not normal to lose a League with 91 points, 94, 92 … No-one has ever picked up as many points. It’s not normal to not win a League with more than 90 points, here or anywhere in the world.

“To win the League in recent seasons, we’ve had to pick up 100 points and score 120 goals. It’s not normal, even if Atletico won the League with 90. For us, it’s very difficult to win the League, but [not winning it last season] doesn’t matter.

“Losing [the CL] wouldn’t have been a failure. Ronaldo only said that to motivate himself. When you fall at the first hurdle, that’s a failure. You don’t have to win everything, only that you’re thereabouts. He’s the worthiest winner of the Ballon d’Or.

“Casemiro has been a surprise to some, but I had no doubts about him, so I let him go to Porto. He was already with us in the season of La Decima, and has the ability to become a great. His positioning, his touch…

“[James Rodriguez] arrived late and started late. Others were playing well, but he’s one of the great players we have.

“We’ve not had any offers for anyone, neither have we talked about the future yet. Still, the good news is that everyone has gone away [for the summer] and it allows us to work without pressure.

“Some players are non-transferable, but as [all the players] have high release clauses, they’re all non-transferable! all [laughs]. Madrid are a buying club and if anyone wants to leave then they can, but only if [other teams] pay their clauses.

“In the past, some players wanted to go, but it’s not happened to me with anyone. I’m not referring to every player who has left, but those who have gone and seen other things maybe regret having gone.

“There’s professional and sporting affection here, a stimulus, and most players would give up more to play for this club and experience this [while turning to the CL trophy].

“[On the CL format], I think the future is open to everyone, a true European competition, and we’ll be there. At the moment it’s very complicated, but it’s a possibility in the future. We’ve asked UEFA about reformatting the Champions League because I think it’s somewhat worn.”

Tags Casemiro Cristiano Ronaldo Florentino Perez James Rodriguez
La Liga - Club News