Real Madrid launched a sharp attack on the Spanish journalist Juanma Castaño over his comparison of the club's official channel to a newspaper that supports terrorism, and threatened to resort to legal action.
The Royal Club issued an official statement on Tuesday hitting out at Castaño's remarks. They appeared in an article he published today in the newspaper "ABC", in which he drew a comparison between Real Madrid's official media outlet and the newspaper "Gara".
Castaño wrote in his article, titled "Real Madrid at war", according to "Marca": "On the official television, which is the Gara newspaper of the extremist Florentino leaning, they are demanding to leave the domestic competitions".
Real Madrid branded the comparison "entirely rejected and utterly unacceptable". Likening its media outlet to a newspaper that "in its history is linked to the world of the terrorist organisation ETA represents an extremely dangerous overstepping of all limits", the club stressed.
Its statement went on to insist that "Real Madrid's channel legitimately exercises its right to inform and to defend the interests of the club, its members and its fans", describing it as the official media outlet of a club that possesses a history spanning 124 years, and represents the feelings and values of millions of supporters around the world".
The club closed on a decisive note, affirming that it "reserves the right to take the measures it deems appropriate in the face of an attack that is unacceptable in any form whatsoever".
This was the second official statement from Real Madrid today. Hours earlier they had responded to an attack by Javier Tebas, the president of the Spanish league association "LaLiga".
Castaño's article dealt with the reactions of Real Madrid's fans following the capital derby against Atlético Madrid at the "Metropolitano" stadium.
The journalist admitted that "the two most controversial incidents in the derby deserve two clear red cards", and he also acknowledged that Real Madrid "has every right to express its anger at the refereeing, the video technology and the referees' committee".
Yet he also argued that pinning all of the club's suffering on the refereeing alone means, in his words, "being blind to a matter that goes back a long time".
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