Real president gives Benítez public vote of confidence

Florentino Pérez has given Rafael Benítez a public vote of confidence following Real Madrid's 4-0 home defeat to Barcelona, claiming the manager has the backing of the board and instead turning the blame on former manager Carlo Ancelotti and the media, which he says is engaged in a campaign against the club. The Madrid president also said widespread chants for him to resign were led by "the same people as always

”: radical ultras, who have no place in the stadium.”

Twelve weeks into the season, Madrid are in third place, trailing Barcelona by six points and Atlético Madrid by two. They have not reached this stage of the season with so few points for a decade and on Saturday night they were humiliated by their greatest rivals. But Pérez said no one on the board had considered sacking Benítez. He also denied the manager had a poor relationship with his players or with him.

Destabilise

“Cristiano [Ronaldo] has never, ever said anything like: ‘With this coach we won’t win anything’,” Pérez said. “No one has said anything against him. Ronaldo is a good guy: he has never said anything. All this stuff people say in the media is just to destabilise us. And it’s every day. And there will be some naive people who believe that.”

Pérez insisted the team, who play at Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Wednesday, had suffered a "deterioration" that dated back to January, when Carlo Ancelotti was in charge. He said Benítez had been brought in to remedy that and he had to be "given time" and be "left alone to work".

“Success will follow, for sure,” he said. He also denied he had ever suggested a line-up to any of the 10 managers he has employed while president.

“I understand that the fans are upset about Saturday, but we think now is the time to keep working with rigour, serenity and the unity of everyone,” he said. “Rafa Benítez has all our support and all our confidence. He was chosen because of his professionalism and his experience. He has the proven ability to get the best of this squad that had declined from January. Rafa has just started his work; let him work.”

Pérez added: “Until the last two weeks of the league we were unbeaten and sharing the leadership of the league, despite numerous injuries suffered at the start of the season.”

Asked if he had the solution to the team’s problems, he offered a satisfied response: “Yes – Rafa Benítez. I have just said it clearly.”

He said the manager had “full power”, noting: “All our coaches have had autonomy. The thing is, we have a squad of very good players and choosing is sometimes different.”

In tone and content, Pérez’s appearance was remarkably similar to a press conference he gave in March at which he said Ancelotti would continue “no matter what”, three months before sacking him.

Then, the president denied he had come out to confirm the Italian's continuity back then, saying he had, rather, come out to tell the fans t the front cover of Marca, in which they had reported he would be sacked if he lost the next game, was a "lie".

Now, five months later, he placed the team’s problems firmly in the Ancelotti era, but most of all he blamed the media – just as he had in March.

Victim

Playing the victim, the vast majority of the time and the energy he expended was spent attacking the media, claiming there was a campaign against him and the club, insisting the media have made “destabilising” Madrid their “raison d’être”, and talking about dark desires to “control” the club.

Time and again Pérez returned to the same word: “destabilise”. “All this stuff people say is just to destabilise us. And it’s every day. And there will be some naive people who believe that,” he said. “I have to come out and tell them that it is lies. It’s terrible [and] it’s daily. Some people’s raison d’être is to destabilise us: they try to undermine the stability of this club and I will not allow it.”

Several names have been touted in the media as possible replacements for Benítez, but one of them, former France and Madrid star Zinedine Zidane, has said he is still not ready to become the club's 14th manager in 12 years.

The 43-year-old, who is currently in charge of the club's B side Castilla, said in AS: "Replace Benítez? I'm the coach of Castilla and Benítez is in charge of the first team. Things are fine at the moment." Guardian Service