Javier Tebas has launched a fresh attack on the Real Madrid board and the club's official channel, accusing them of feeding a narrative that casts the Spanish giants as a permanent victim of referees and of La Liga's decisions. The league president also took aim at a number of journalists who cover the club's complaints about match scheduling.
Tebas took to his social media accounts to respond to reports published by the website "El Debate" on Real Madrid's objections to the Spanish league fixture list, in particular the timing of their meeting with Valencia on 7 November. Other reports dealt with the Negreira case and the refereeing decisions from which the Spanish giants either benefit or suffer, according to what was stated in them.
Tebas attacks journalists over their coverage of Real Madrid news
First in the firing line were journalists Tomás González Martín and Jesús Oriola, who signed the reports in question. Tebas argued that what they write has come close to being statements issued by the Real Madrid board.
Tebas said: "Day by day it is becoming harder to tell the difference between your articles and a statement issued by the Real Madrid board. Tomás, in particular, has turned into its official spokesman, to the point of using expressions identical to what I heard from one of the senior executives at Valdebebas."
He added: "There are plenty of references to sources inside the club, but very little of the professional distance that ought to separate a journalist from what those sources want to put across. You look like a parrot, but using a keyboard."
Then came the clarification. The executive whose comments the two journalists cite is not the same person Tebas accused of calling newsrooms to demand the dismissal of journalists and of applying pressure to remove executives from companies.
Those calls and pressures, as he described them, are not a thing of the past but are still ongoing, Tebas explained, before turning his fire directly on the Real Madrid board. "The Real Madrid board conducts an orchestra of its mouthpieces, while the official Real Madrid channel takes on the singing at full volume," he said.
Tebas accuses the Real Madrid channel of feeding a victimhood narrative
Tebas escalated his tone towards the Real Madrid channel, arguing that it represents a central element in a media system aimed at entrenching the feeling among the club's fans that they are being wronged.
He said: "The tune they play is always the same: selecting the clips that serve their interests, repeating talk of injustices, feeding doubts and identifying enemies."
Comparisons followed. The league president likened the method of which he accused the club and its channel to some of the propaganda techniques used by Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister in Nazi Germany, explaining that the parallel relates, as he stressed, to propaganda techniques such as constant repetition, the construction of an image of the enemy and the subjection of facts to a pre-set narrative, and not to ideology or to Real Madrid's fans.
Tebas added: "The Real Madrid channel represents a pivotal part of this system. Where is the complete analysis of the matches in every round? And where are the possible errors that harm other clubs or those that work in Real Madrid's favour? If they used the same magnifying glass on all the matches, then perhaps the results would come out in a way that ruins the script they want to present."
He continued: "But the script requires Real Madrid to appear always in the image of the victim. And so we reach the point of portraying even the absence of an error as an error, and of using the Negreira case as a permanent explanation for every decision they do not like. Doubt is presented as though it were an established fact, and the conclusion is written before the match even starts."
Match scheduling: Tebas asks Real Madrid to reveal their requests
On fixture scheduling, the issue that has prompted objections from Real Madrid, Tebas called on the club to disclose all of their previous requests to amend kick-off times and the days on which matches are played, along with the number of requests La Liga agreed to grant.
He said: "That same technique is now being used in the scheduling file, in that what is recounted is whatever feeds the feeling of injustice, while the context that would allow the truth of the matter to be verified is concealed."
Addressing the journalist Tomás González Martín, he added: "Let that executive who supplies the club's mouthpieces with information explain how many requests to change kick-off times and match days Real Madrid have submitted, and how many requests have been approved. In this file, Real Madrid top the table. And let that include the requests that were approved as well, instead of focusing only on the request that serves to stir up controversy each time."
His list did not stop there. Tebas also demanded the inclusion of the requests linked to the competition calendar, which are aimed at facilitating the staging of the events permitted by the "super licence" at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium.
He continued: "When it comes to asking for the competition to be adapted to the club's needs, they move very energetically, but their memory is far shorter when it comes to acknowledging the requests that have been met. This is the record that ought to be published: what did Real Madrid ask for? What did they get? What could not be granted, and what were the reasons for that?"
La Liga president: rejecting a Real Madrid request does not mean they are being targeted
Kick-off times do not concern Real Madrid alone, Tebas stressed. They also affect their opponents, other clubs, supporters and the obligations relating to television broadcasting rights.
He said: "Kick-off times also affect the opponent, the other clubs, the fans and the obligations relating to the audiovisual broadcasting of the competition. A request does not become a right simply because it comes from Real Madrid, just as rejecting it does not prove the existence of persecution."
He added: "The Spanish league defends the competition. And it is not serious to ask for days, kick-off times and the calendar to be amended, and then present every disagreement as proof that La Liga is harming the club. If we want to talk about the treatment Real Madrid receive, then we have to set it out in full."
Tebas signed off by asking journalists to verify the details he had urged them to request from their sources. He also challenged the Real Madrid channel to devote a programme to the club's requests and the league's responses to them, instead of focusing on the clips that highlight controversial refereeing errors.
He said: "Tomás has specific questions to put to his sources, and the Real Madrid channel has enough material to put together a programme: the club's requests and the responses it received. We shall see whether they give this record the same attention they devote to the clips of injustices. After that, the rest of the mouthpieces take over the amplification of the message. The Real Madrid channel shows the pictures, others write the headlines, and everyone repeats the same accusation."