Real Madrid president Florentino Perez blasted for 'lies' by La Liga chief Javier Tebas as he continues to push European Super League agenda

• Perez talks up European Super League
• La Liga chief hits back at Madrid president
• Court to issue verdict on competition in December

WHAT HAPPENED? The Spanish giants were one of 12 founding members of a new breakaway European competition in April 2021, but it crumbled within a matter of days. Madrid and Barcelona are the sole survivors of the Super League project, with the rest pulling out after widespread fan protests. However, Perez insists this tournament is "more necessary than ever". In response to his remarks at Los Blancos' annual general meeting, La Liga president Tebas has accused the 76-year-old of spreading lies about the Spanish top-flight, TV rights, salaries, and more.

WHAT THEY SAID: Perez said, via The Athletic: “Football is suffering an unprecedented institutional crisis. At all levels, both in Spain and in Europe. European football does not belong to the president of UEFA. Spanish football does not belong to the president of La Liga.

"Football is nobody’s monopoly, because football belongs to everybody. The aim of the Super League is very clear: to offer the best possible club competition.

"The Super League is more necessary than ever, the objective is to offer the best football and it is the clubs that have to control their destiny."

He added: "In Spain, the situation of football is worrying. I will not dedicate many words at this moment to the Spanish Football Federation, given that it is immersed in a process of regeneration.

"There are many issues of particular relevance that depend directly on the Spanish Football Federation. Issues as sensitive and as important as the quality of refereeing and the application of VAR, a technological instrument that came to improve football and that today is so questioned by the management and use made by those responsible for it.

"I am confident that the Spanish government will act and take the necessary measures to regenerate the refereeing profession once and for all."

In response to this, Tebas posted on X, formerly Twitter, that Perez believes he is a messiah-like figure in football and only he can save the sport.

He wrote: "He [Perez] adds very serious lies about La Liga, He lies about the increase in the president's salary, no increase, he lies about the transparency of La Liga, he lies about the expropriation of TV rights... the only thing that reflects his increasingly unbridled "messianism", where he wants everything to revolve around from what HE "thinks".

"La Liga is a democratic organization where the vote is secret, and if Real Madrid is not elected to the delegate commission it will be because he does not have the necessary support, and look, it is easy."

THE BIGGER PICTURE: Perez's remarks come ahead of the European Court of Justice revealing its final verdict on whether or not the European Super League has any validity on December 21, 2023. The court will rule if UEFA and FIFA acted lawfully in blocking the competition's creation more than two years ago, and in seeking to sanction the clubs involved. While this iteration of the tournament looks to be dead, organisers announced a revamped format in February which would see 60-80 teams taking part. Breakaway leagues could yet happen in the future.

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WHAT NEXT? Madrid and Barcelona will wait to see what the court's verdict is in December.