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Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus have been slammed by Paris Saint-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi over their commitment to the proposed European Super League project.
"I will not spend much time talking about April 18 and the 'not-so-Super League' because I do not like to focus on fabulists and failures," Al Khelaifi was quoted as saying.
"Together we defended the interests of European football for everyone. We relied on the resolve and strength of [UEFA] president [Aleksander Ceferin], who stood up to the midnight coup. He said 'we will win' and we did.
"While the three rebel clubs waste energy, twist narratives and continue to shout at the sky, the rest of us are moving forward."
"The first priority is to bring urgent financial stability to European football. Even before COVID, many financial problems affected football."
"Our second priority is to make the ECA's relationship stronger across the entire football family, particularly with UEFA."
"The third priority is to make the ECA work better for its members - to provide valuable resources for the clubs. We should ask ourselves, what should the ECA provide for its members? For me, right now, it's not enough. This needs to change."
"The fourth pillar is that diversity and inclusion need to be at the core of our new ECA. This could be one of our greatest potential strengths but we are falling short.
"Finally, a priority that some people think is invisible, but it should be visible in everything we do: the underlying spirit and values of our organization and European football."
Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus remain committed to ESL
The football world was sent into a frenzy as the European Super League project was announced earlier this year. Twelve founding clubs across England, Spain and Italy formed the breakaway competition, which posed a serious threat to UEFA and the Champions League.
Following tense opposition, nine of the founding clubs withdrew their participation. But Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus refused to bow to pressure and upheld their interest in the European Super League. The three clubs recently pledged their commitment to the project, meaning the saga is nowhere near its end.
According to multiple sources, the orchestrators of the ESL have returned to the drawing board, working to come up with a better presentation. It remains to be seen if they'll reshape it in a way that makes it appealing to the world of football.
