Tebas challenges Real Madrid over Santiago Bernabeu banner: ‘Are they going to explain this?’

· MadridUniversal

La Liga president Javier Tebas has challenged Real Madrid over an anti-Tebas banner displayed at the Santiago Bernabeu during Sunday’s match against Real Betis, questioning whether the club will distance itself from the message after previously describing criticism from journalists as independent opinion. The banner, displayed in the stadium’s south stand, read: “It’s not football, […] The post Tebas challenges Real Madrid over Santiago Bernabeu banner: ‘Are they going to explain this?’ appeared first on Madrid Universal .

La Liga president Javier Tebas has challenged Real Madrid over an anti-Tebas banner displayed at the Santiago Bernabeu during Sunday’s match against Real Betis , questioning whether the club will distance itself from the message after previously describing criticism from journalists as independent opinion.

The banner, displayed in the stadium’s south stand, read: “It’s not football, it’s Tebas and Negreira.”

Tebas responded on X, linking the protest to his ongoing dispute with Real Madrid over the club’s public criticism of refereeing and Spanish football’s governing institutions.

The exchange is the latest response from the La Liga president to an increasingly bitter confrontation between him and Real Madrid, with the Negreira controversy and accusations of institutional bias continuing to dominate their public exchanges.

Tebas questions Real Madrid’s position after Bernabeu protest

The La Liga president’s response centred on whether Real Madrid would treat the banner as an opinion independent of the club, just as it had previously characterised comments from journalists outside the organisation.

“Are they also going to explain this as an opinion unrelated to the club?” the La Liga president wondered in a post on X.

Tebas subsequently expanded on his criticism in a lengthy statement, arguing that the banner reinforced the narrative he had previously attributed to voices associated with Madrid’s leadership.

> “It has taken just two days for events to prove me right. > > Han bastado dos días para que los hechos me vayan dando la razón. > > En mi post del 16 de octubre, señalé a Tomás González-Martín, de El Debate, como portaCOZ del discurso de la dirección del Real Madrid. El club respondió ese mismo 16 de octubre con un comunicado escudándose en las opiniones de «periodistas ajenos al club», sobre las que decía no tener responsabilidad. > > En mi respuesta del 16 de octubre, les pedí algo muy concreto: que desmintieran la comparación con Negreira que el periodista atribuía a fuentes del club y las acusaciones de que LaLiga les perjudica con los horarios. Que publicaran todas sus solicitudes de cambios y cuántas habían sido atendidas. TODO el balance, incluidas las peticiones aceptadas que estropean el relato de la persecución. > > Este 18 de octubre, Real Madrid TV vuelve a cargar contra mí y su grada de animación, coordinada y supervisada por el club, despliega una pancarta: «No es fútbol, son Tebas y Negreira». ¿También van a explicarlo como una opinión ajena al club? La coincidencia con el relato que denuncié está a la vista. > > Y hay algo especialmente grave: poner a personas concretas en la diana. En mi post del 16 de octubre ya recordé aquella frase: «Te pondré en contra a toda la afición del Real Madrid y no podrás ir por la calle». Lo ocurrido este 18 de octubre refuerza mi denuncia sobre ese intento de convertir las discrepancias con sus dirigentes en hostilidad de la afición contra una persona. > > Señalar, desacreditar y alimentar esa hostilidad es una enorme irresponsabilidad. Los dirigentes tienen la obligación de comprender las consecuencias de los mensajes que promueven y amplifican. > > Y otro ejemplo: su publicación del 17 de octubre sobre «la prensa internacional» . Las informaciones de Reuters, BBC o L’Équipe… que el propio Madrid reproduce cuentan que quien la pide es el Real Madrid. Convertir la cobertura de su exigencia en respaldo a esa exigencia es manipular. Basta leer su propia publicación para comprobarlo, como señalé en otro post. > > La dirección del Real Madrid se ha instalado en la manipulación y la falsedad, también en sus comunicados y publicaciones oficiales. Alimentan el agravio, repiten las acusaciones, ponen personas en la diana y después se presentan como víctimas cuando se denuncia el procedimiento. > > Pueden seguir pidiendo mi dimisión. Las preguntas sobre sus fuentes, sus acusaciones y los horarios siguen pendientes desde el 16 de octubre. > > Cada día ilustran mejor lo que denuncié. > > “In my post on 16 October, I identified Tomas Gonzalez-Martin, of El Debate, as the mouthpiece for Real Madrid’s management. > > “The club responded on that very same day, 16 October, with a statement citing the opinions of ‘journalists outside the club’, for which it claimed to bear no responsibility. > > “In my reply of 16 October, I asked them for something very specific: that they refute the comparison with Negreira that the journalist attributed to club sources, and the accusations that La Liga is disadvantaging them with the fixture list. > > “That they publish all their requests for changes and how many had been granted. THE FULL picture, including the accepted requests that undermine the narrative of persecution. > > “On 18 October, Real Madrid TV launched another attack against me, and its cheer squad – coordinated and supervised by the club – unfurled a banner reading: ‘It’s not football, it’s Tebas and Negreira’. > > “Are they going to explain this as an opinion unrelated to the club as well? The similarity to the narrative I exposed is plain to see.”

Dispute over Real Madrid TV fuels confrontation

The latest exchange comes amid a separate controversy over Tebas’s comparison of Real Madrid TV’s communication methods with Nazi-era propaganda techniques .

The La Liga president has refused to apologise , prompting criticism from Jose Manuel Rodriguez Uribes, president of Spain’s Higher Sports Council, who described the remarks as unacceptable and called for an apology to Madrid.

Tebas has defended his criticism of the club’s television channel, which has repeatedly scrutinised refereeing decisions and questioned the conduct of Spanish football institutions.

Real Madrid, meanwhile, have maintained a confrontational stance in their public criticism of refereeing and the wider football establishment.

Negreira references keep tensions alive

The reference to Negreira is particularly significant because it invokes the controversy surrounding Barcelona’s payments to companies linked to former refereeing official Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

The matter has become a recurring point of contention in Spanish football, with Real Madrid among the clubs to have publicly scrutinised the case.

By linking Tebas and Negreira in the stadium protest, the banner brought that controversy into the ongoing dispute between Madrid and the league president.

Understandably so, the presence of a banner in the stadium does not, by itself, establish that the club organised or endorsed its message.

Rather, the central question raised by Tebas is whether Real Madrid will publicly address the protest and clarify its position, as the confrontation between the two sides continues.

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