Luis Figo on Florentino Pérez: “There are many things on which we do not agree” | Top Vip News

In an exclusive interview with Marca today, Real Madrid legend Luis Figo delved into several interesting talking points, sharing his thoughts on the European Super League, the current state of football, Jude Bellingham and much more.

Below are some notable quotes from the interview.

Are there too many distractions for fans to sit back and watch a 90-minute game?

“We have to innovate and try to attract new followers, but football is the number one sport. If you like football, you watch it. If you are a fan of a team, you watch the entire game. It is true that perhaps if you ask a Rayo or Alavés fan if he watches 90 minutes of another game he will tell you no, but that does not mean that he does not watch or do not like football. The challenge that exists now is to retain fans and young people compared to other entertainment platforms.”

How much do you watch Real Madrid?

“I especially watch Real Madrid games. I like to watch good football and important matches, but since I like sports I can also watch Sevilla-Osasuna if I’m at home quietly. I see what I can.

“I have gone to the new Bernabéu, because I have season tickets. If I don’t go, my daughters go. I have been a member for more than 20 years.”

“More than 20 years”, one of the requirements to be president of Real Madrid

“By proxy, it is one of the requirements.

“No, not money. (laughs). I’m short of money now.

“I have never planned my projects and opportunities in my life as I want to be this or that. Your path in life leads you to make decisions and then you are right or wrong. It’s what I’ve always done in my life. “I never thought I would work to be this or that in three years.”

Is it necessary to change football?

“I like the essence of what football itself is, not changing things and programming a lot of what happens in football. Football has to be fair, of course, the results should not be adulterated, but when you start committing fouls in the center of the field and the VAR controls it… I don’t like that. Soccer is a sport of mistakes and players make mistakes, that’s why one team wins and another loses. So I don’t like those types of situations where there is so much intervention in the game and I would change that. Yes, I agree that a World Cup or Europe uses a tool to see if the ball goes in or not, but I don’t like the little things that are analyzed.

“VAR for things in the area, for things that are very defined and well informed. The players, coaches, fans and journalists have to be very clear about what we are playing, it is not that there are a thousand opinions because people do not know what is happening. We can talk a thousand hours about VAR and there will never be a consensus because football is neither black nor white. But there are things.

“To jump, a player must use his arms; He can’t play without his arms attached to his body. You have to be sensitive when deciding and when he decides, logical decisions are not made by those of us who have played football.”

Why are you against the European Super League?

“Look, I like competitions if there is veracity and sporting merit. I am from Madrid and I have nothing against Madrid and not agreeing does not mean being against. What I see is that a player like me, who started playing for Sporting, the way the Super League is made, will never have the opportunity to play it. My dream was always to play in the Champions Leaguebecause I saw it on TV and said: ‘I want to be like them.’

“So, the Super League, as I understand it, does not allow a player like me, who starts at Sporting at 22 years old, to have access to the top competition. Do you think it is a competency that I should support when I experienced the other process? And what about the national leagues? They are going to kill them. What happens with Osasuna or the rest of the teams? What about young people or women’s football? For all this, I cannot agree with a competition like the Super League and I never will.”

His relationship with Florentino Pérez

“It is a relationship of respect and admiration, but at the same time there are many things on which we do not agree. Even when I was a player I didn’t agree and I told him so. And if I have to tell you something that you don’t like, I’m going to tell you. I am not marrying anyone and that has brought me many problems, but thank God I am free and I lead a life in which I do not need to do anyone a favor. I’m wrong? Yes, but I am responsible for my actions and statements.

“He is the president of the club that I support and of which I am a member. He is the president who brought me to Madrid and has not kicked me out, but he told me that now you are leaving. We have a politically and sportingly correct relationship.”

Were you surprised by Jude Bellingham?

“I was surprised by the adaptation, but not by the quality because I knew it. It is logical that when you arrive at a club you need to adapt, but he has done it and everything is very easy and good for the club and for him.”

Would Bellingham break the galactic starting eleven (with Figo, Zidane, Raúl, Ronaldo)?

“Maybe not, but you never know… I’m kidding. Don’t know. We had what we had, a wonderful generation, we had a great team. “Players like him always have space.”

The Negreira case

“The ‘Negreira case’ has to have consequences because it is very serious”