Florentino Perez has thanked last season’s managerial casualty Rafa Benitez for “showing his affection” to Real Madrid during Sunday’s AGM.
Speaking in front of Madrid socios on Sunday, Perez also spoke of his “pride” in bringing Zinedine Zidane to the Santiago Bernabeu, hailed the “mythical” Cristiano Ronaldo and highlighted both Los Blancos’ youth programme and progress behind the scenes.
“Zidane symbolises everything that is Madrid,” the President began.
“He’s part of Madrid’s legend. One of the decisions that I feel most proud of is to have brought him to Madrid, first as a player and then as a Coach.
“He’s won the Champions League with Madrid as a player, an assistant and Coach.
“We’ve managed to overcome the revenue barrier of €600m. It stands at €620m, a historical record, and we’ve grown at a rate of 11 percent since 2000. Forbes highlights us once more as the world’s most valuable club.
“Cristiano was again the top scorer in the Champions League with 16 goals, he won the Golden Boot for the fourth time and is the only player who has done.
“He was best player in Europe for UEFA and is the top scorer in Madrid’s history with 369 goals. He’s mythical for madridismo and football.
“I want to give Rafa a word of thanks. He showed his affection to Madrid when he was here.
“There are 142 players who have left the club in professional Leagues, 51 in La Liga, 52 in international leagues and 38 in La Liga 2.
“Currently at Valdebebas, there are 280 players divided into 13 teams. Nine of them won their respective League titles and two finished second.
“Income from membership fees and subscriptions account for 8.1% of our total revenue. We will have new socios. They may be the children and grandchildren of today.”
