The confrontation between Real Madrid and Javier Tebas, president of the Spanish Football League, was no longer limited to statements and exchanged statements, after it moved to the stands of the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium on Sunday, where the club’s fans expressed their anger at Tebas and raised a banner linking his name to the Negrera case, in a new development in the crisis that broke out on October 16, and its scope has expanded over the past days.
The protests came during the confrontation between Real Madrid and Sevilla, which ended with the home team winning 4-1. The fans in the southern stand raised a banner that read: “This is not football; "It's Tebas and Negrera," while chants rose calling for the resignation of the president of the Spanish League, along with slogans targeting Barcelona president Joan Laporta and the Spanish Football Federation, linking the Negrera case to arbitration in Spain.
According to the Spanish newspaper “Marca”, the chants continued for about 6 minutes since the start of the match, and the fans chanted phrases including “Tebas, resign,” “Keep Tebas’ hands away from Real Madrid,” “Laporta is still paying,” and “Negrira is still ruling,” in addition to chants accusing the Spanish Federation of corruption.
Real Madrid published on its official website a report on the protests, in which it reviewed the banner and the chants that took place in the stadium, in a situation that mirrored the transfer of the confrontation with the League President to the club’s stands.
The roots of the current escalation go back to Friday, October 16, according to the Spanish newspaper AS, when Tebas sparked widespread controversy by likening the communication methods adopted by Real Madrid through its television channel to the propaganda methods used by Joseph Goebbels, Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany.
The club's response was not delayed; He issued a statement in which he demanded the immediate resignation of Tebas from the presidency of the Spanish League, and from his position as vice president of the Spanish Football Federation, describing his statements as “completely unacceptable and extremely dangerous.”
Real Madrid's statement was not the end of the confrontation; Rather, it opened the door to a new round of responses, after Tebas defended his statements and criticized what he saw as a method used by the club’s management in dealing with its opponents.
The president of the association also accused parties linked to the club of fueling a speech targeting him personally, while the Real Madrid administration adhered to the demand for his departure, so the issue turned into a public dispute that went beyond the boundaries of the relationship between the club and the association.
As the circle of controversy expanded, other parties entered the crisis line. Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes, head of Spain's Supreme Sports Council, called on Tebas to apologize to Real Madrid for his statements, while Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho announced his support for the club's position.
On the other hand, Laporta sided with the League President, saying that Tebas was accustomed to dealing with such confrontations, and criticizing what he described as Real Madrid's escalatory stance.
The Bernabeu protests added a new dimension to the dispute. It was not limited to the demand for Tebas's departure, but also included the Negrera issue, which remained a recurring focus in the club's media discourse.
Thus, the new crisis overlapped with the existing disputes over Spanish arbitration, so that the stands became an extension of the confrontation that began with the statements of the League President and the club management’s response to them. After the match, Tebas responded again via the “X” platform, considering that what happened on the field reinforces the accusations he had previously made against Real Madrid’s management.
He pointed out that the club's television channel returned to attacking him before the match, simultaneously with the banner being raised in the stands, wondering whether the administration would deal with this position as an opinion issued by people who do not officially represent the club.
In his response, Tebas focused on what he considered to be an intersection between the club’s media discourse and what was witnessed in the stands, saying that the coincidence of positions reinforces, from his point of view, what he had previously raised regarding the way to manage the dispute.
He also warned against directing hostility towards specific people, recalling a phrase he said he had previously mentioned in a previous post, which states that parties within the club can turn Real Madrid fans against a person, until it becomes difficult for him to walk in the street.
The president of the association added that officials are required to realize the consequences of the messages they promote or expand, warning that targeting individuals and inciting hostility towards them represents, in his words, irresponsible behavior.
He accused the Real Madrid administration of repeating what he described as misinformation and accusations in its official statements and publications, while at the same time presenting itself as the injured party when faced with criticism regarding its approach.
Tebas's response was not limited to what happened at the Bernabeu; He returned to Real Madrid’s post regarding the international press’s coverage of the crisis, considering that the club mixed the media’s reporting of its demands for his resignation with support for those demands.
He cited coverage by international media, including Reuters, the BBC, and the French newspaper L'Equipe, saying that those reports talked about Real Madrid's demand for his departure, and were not necessarily an expression of those media adopting the same position.
Tebas also renewed his demand that the club management clarify the accusations related to the Negrera case, and reveal its requests to amend the match dates, and the number of requests that the League agreed to, in response to what is being raised about Real Madrid being harmed by the match schedule.
He stressed that, according to him, these questions have remained since October 16, despite the continued demands for his resignation.
Thus, Sunday's events added a new chapter to one of the most intense confrontations between Real Madrid and the president of the Spanish League, after it extended from the dispute over Tebas's statements to the fans' chants and banners, then to a new response from him in which he accuses the club's management of fueling hostility against him.
At a time when Real Madrid adheres to the demand for his departure, Tebas continues to defend his position, so that the crisis remains open to further debate between the two parties.
