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Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) president Nasser Al-Khelaifi has slammed Real Madrid for celebrating their UEFA Champions League triumph last term despite being the flagbearers of the European Super League.
Real Madrid beat Premier League giants Liverpool 1-0 to win the Champions League last season. They celebrated their 14th triumph in the competition in style, with Carlo Ancelotti even smoking a cigar during the parade.
However, PSG chief Al-Khelaifi has now launched a scathing attack on Los Blancos for their celebrations. The Qatari pointed out that the La Liga giants are one of the advocates of the European Super League and labeled their celebrations 'weird'. He was quoted as saying by French outlet Foot Mercato:
"It's strange that Real Madrid are celebrating winning the Champions League. It's very strange that you go against the competition, but participate and celebrate having won the title."
"I think it's very weird, to be honest. But we are not going to waste time on this and we are going to continue to work."
The European Super League was a seasonal club football competition that was proposed by 12 top clubs across the continent in April last year. The idea was to create a rival for the Champions League.
However, the announcement of the competition received severe backlash from fans, pundits, managers and even players. ESL advocates were forced to drop the project after they received further criticism from the likes of UEFA and FIFA.
Nine of the founding members, including the six English teams involved, withdrew their support. However, Real Madrid are among the three clubs still keen to see the ESL come to fruition.
Los Blancos supremo Florentino Perez claimed in July that the ESL dream is still alive. While the dispute took place behind the scenes, the club went on to win the Champions League.
PSG president Al-Khelaifi, though, is of the view that the Spanish giants are hypocrites to take joy in winning the Champions League. He suggested that they should not have even participated in the competition last term.
PSG and Real Madrid not on same page regarding ESL
PSG were among the clubs that received an invitation to join the ESL project last year. The French giants were given 14 days to sign up for the project, but rejected the proposal anyway.
Les Parisiens, as well as Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, publicly condemned the ESL at the time. Meanwhile, Real Madrid chief and the chairman of the project Perez insisted that those three clubs had not been invited.
