REAL MADRID DEMANDS JAVIER TEBAS RESIGN

Real Madrid has demanded the immediate resignation of LaLiga president Javier Tebas after he compared the club’s communications methods with those used by Joseph Goebbels. The club said Tebas should also resign as vice-president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation. Tebas made the comparison in a social media post on Friday, 16 October, about the club’s management and Real Madrid TV. He wrote: “Real Madrid’s management directs an orchestra of mouthpieces and Real Madrid TV leads the singing.” Real Madrid called his remarks “morally repugnant” in a statement later that day.

Tebas was responding to articles by two journalists who said he and LaLiga were acting against Real Madrid’s interests. He said the journalists, writing in El Debate, were amplifying a message on behalf of the club’s management. His post criticised Real Madrid TV’s coverage of refereeing decisions at the club’s matches. Tebas accused the club of selecting plays, repeating grievances and encouraging suspicion. He said he had compared “propaganda techniques”, rather than Nazi ideology or Real Madrid supporters.

Real Madrid said someone holding senior positions in Spanish football should not invoke the methods of Goebbels, Nazi Germany’s propaganda minister, to criticise the club. It said Tebas’s clarification about ideology did not lessen its objection. The club described the post as another in a series of attacks by Tebas on Real Madrid, its president and its media outlets. Last month, Real Madrid also called for a new LaLiga president after Tebas described its complaints about refereeing decisions as “a smokescreen” for shortcomings on the pitch.