Florentino Perez responds to leaked audio insulting Real Madrid legends including Cristiano Ronaldo

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has released an official statement defending himself after audio recording was leaked, in which he is claimed to label Cristiano Ronaldo “an idiot” and Los Blancos legends Raul and Iker Casillas “the two biggest frauds”.

The club say the ‘clandestine’ recording was of a private conversation in 2006, which took place less than a year after Perez had resigned from his first spell as president. The recording made public by Spanish paper El Confidencial earlier this week.

Perez, 74, responded in a statement on the club’s official website, saying his comments were ‘taken out of context’.

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The statement reads: “The published quotes were part of conversations secretly recorded by Mr José Antonio Abellán, who has been trying to sell the recordings for many years without any success. I find it surprising that they have been published today by El Confidencial, despite the time that has elapsed.

“They are isolated quotes that were part of conversations and have been taken out of the wider context in which they were made.

“I understand that the fact that they have been published now, so many years on from the time the conversations took place, owes to my involvement as one of the driving forces behind the Super League.

“I have placed the matter in the hands of my lawyers, who are examining the course of action to be taken.”

Among the players discussed in El Confidencial’s audio leaks was Casillas, whose mother had previously claimed Perez forced him out of the club. He is described as the ‘The best goalkeeper in our history’ on Real Madrid’s website but, according to El Confidencial, Perez said: “Casillas is not a Real Madrid standard goalkeeper. What can I say? He’s not and never has been.

“He has been a big failure of ours. The problem is people adore him, love him, talk to him, they defend him so much.

“He is one of the biggest frauds and the other is Raul, the two biggest Real Madrid frauds are first Raul and second Casillas.”

Raul, meanwhile, won six La Liga titles with Los Blancos and half as many Champions League trophies, a competition in which he previously held the record for most goals (71). Said record was subsequently shattered by Cristiano Ronaldo, of whom El Confidencial report Perez said: “He’s crazy. This guy is an idiot, a sick man. You think this guy is normal but he’s not normal, otherwise he wouldn’t do all the things he does.

“The last nonsense he did, the whole world saw it. Why do you think he does that stupid thing?”

Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes, also represents former Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho.

The trio were also among the topics explored in the Perez snippets published by the Spanish publication: “Mendes doesn’t control [Cristiano], just like he doesn’t control Mourinho. Zero weight. These are guys with a serious ego, both spoiled, and they don’t see reality because they could both earn a lot more money if they were otherwise inclined.

“These two are abnormal, because we’re talking about a lot of money in respect to image rights. Also, with that face they have, that defiant way, that everyone dislikes them; if the publicity is the opposite, it’s the opposite!”

Mourinho oversaw what Perez publicly called “the worst game in the history of Real Madrid” in late 2010, when they lost 5-0 to Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona. He did, however, show support for Mourinho at the time and the team recovered to win La Liga the following season.