Real Madrid has responded to Javier Tebas — and it has done so in strongly worded terms.
The club has hit back at comments Tebas made on social media this morning, in which he criticized Real Madrid and its complaints about refereeing following the derby. Tebas once again used phrases such as “the regime’s television,” referring to Real Madrid TV, and made some particularly blunt remarks:
“When it’s not Negreira, it’s the referee. Take the blindfold off! Nobody with any common sense believes the same old excuse anymore.”
He posted those comments on X at seven in the morning. And there was more:
“To claim that referees are being directed against Real Madrid is to live in another galaxy. It is easier to point to a conspiracy than to explain what is happening on the pitch.”
Ten hours later, Real Madrid responded.
The response came in the form of an official statement consisting of five strongly worded paragraphs. The club accused Tebas of having an “obsession” with Real Madrid and described his latest comments as “serious and incomprehensible, and unbecoming of a responsible administrator.”
The club also appeared to call for a change in leadership, stating:
“We believe that the competition urgently needs a leader capable of managing it and developing its full potential while fulfilling the basic duty of neutrality.”
Real Madrid went on to accuse Tebas’s conduct of “damaging the image of Spanish football.”
Here is the full statement — another chapter in what has become a deeply fractured relationship.
Real Madrid statement
“Following the statements made by LaLiga president Javier Tebas Medrano, Real Madrid wishes to state the following:
Our club considers it intolerable that the president of LaLiga uses his institutional position to continually disparage and attack Real Madrid in the manner he does in each of his public interventions. It is deeply concerning that the person responsible for representing and protecting the interests of all LaLiga clubs remains repeatedly obsessed with Real Madrid, turning our club into a permanent target of his public attacks.
His latest intervention is particularly serious and incomprehensible, and unbecoming of a responsible administrator, because he made these comments in response to an article written by an independent journalist in a digital media outlet. Yet he chose to react by attacking our club while also taking it upon himself to assess our sporting strategy — something that is completely absurd and irresponsible.
It is extremely surprising that the president of LaLiga devotes his time and personal channels to repeatedly attempting to discredit Real Madrid publicly, instead of using the responsibility of his position to help build confidence in the institutions that are supposed to guarantee the impartiality of the competition. In doing so, he continues to damage the image of our competition and of Spanish football around the world.
Given this inappropriate behavior, which has continued over time, we believe that professional football in Spain urgently needs a leader capable of managing the competition and developing its full potential while fulfilling the fundamental duty of neutrality. It needs someone who understands the nature of the position, because the president of LaLiga is not the owner of the competition, but an administrator serving the clubs that make up the league and entrust him with its management. The clubs need someone who will serve this mission with integrity.”
Tebas’s comments
“The usual narrative is already being constructed by the ‘portaCOCes’ [a play on words referring to Real Madrid’s media outlets] and the regime’s television: permanent conspiracy theories. When it’s not Negreira, it’s the referee; when it’s not that, it’s the fact that the referee isn’t an international official. All clubs can be officiated by international referees and by those who are not. No club is entitled to have referees assigned according to its preferences.
But this article goes even further: it claims that referees are harming ‘the business that feeds them.’ What exactly is it asking for? That matches should be refereed according to revenue, television audiences, or the club badge? What a way to understand equality in competition.
Real Madrid is hugely important to LaLiga. But claiming that ‘LaLiga is worth nothing’ without Real Madrid shows contempt for the other clubs, their supporters, and their history. The competition belongs to no one.
To claim that referees are being directed against Real Madrid is to live in another galaxy. That narrative serves as an excuse to cover up other shortcomings that are plainly visible in these opening matches of the season. It is easier to point to a conspiracy than to explain what is happening on the pitch.
And my position does not depend on holding any particular office: a refereeing error does not prove a conspiracy, and repeating the claim for years does not make it true.”