"Is this boring?" - Real Madrid president Florentino Perez uses tennis example to promote Super League idea

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez recently took the example of tennis in order to establish his proposal for the European Super League.

Perez was one of the spearheads who campaigned for the ESL. Los Blancos recently fell from first to 13th on Forbes' list of the world's most valuable sports brands.

Perez opined that it is because the best European clubs don't play each other more often. He compared the situation with tennis, saying that the top players often play each other ofter.

However, one might argue that the essence of the UEFA Champions League and other European competitions is to give smaller teams the chance to shine under the brightest of lights.

Fans often see memorable upsets in the top European competitions, which makes the game more beautiful and intriguing. One might remember when Leicester City won the Premier League against all odds.

However, in a counter argument, interesting statistics can be presented. Real Madrid have faced Bayern Munich 20 times in European knockout competitions over the past 22 years.

Hence, it is often that only the big clubs reach the later stages of top competitions. Hence, Perez made his point, saying:

“If we look at the legends of tennis, [Rafael] Nadal and [Roger] Federer played each other 40 times in 15 years. So far, Nadal and [Novak] Djokovic have faced each other 59 times in 16 years. Is this boring?”

He also criticized UEFA by saying that if they organized tennis:

"We would have only ever seen two or three matches between Nadal and Federer.”

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez seemingly took shots at PSG and Manchester City

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez believes ESL is the solution to all the problems. He also wants guaranteed spots in the league for the 12 founder clubs.

However, he seemingly took aim at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) and Manchester City for their tendency to overspend in the transfer market:

“And they [opposition] want the abuses of financial fair play by certain clubs, abuses we all know about, to be simply accepted, without consequences for their behaviour.

He continued:

"Instead of addressing the debate on all these issues, they keep trying to focus criticism towards the Super League exclusively on its supposed format by repeatedly saying that it does not take merit into account. But this is not true."