Real Madrid have called for La Liga president Javier Tebas to resign after he compared the club’s efforts to discredit referees to Joseph Goebbels.
Tebas said in a post on X on Friday that Real Madrid’s in-house TV channel often suggested that referees attempt to prevent the club from winning.
The outspoken Spanish league chief said these tactics recall “propaganda techniques” used by Goebbels, the Nazi propaganda chief during World War II.
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“The executive of Real Madrid has an orchestra of mouthpieces and Real Madrid leads the way,” Tebas wrote on social media.
“Its script is always the same: select plays that favour it, repeat the alleged affront, increase suspicion and name enemies.
“It reminds one of the propaganda techniques that Goebbels used … the comparison is with the techniques, not with the ideology or, of course, with Madrid fans.”
Tebas later attempted to clarify that he was drawing comparisons with “those propaganda techniques” and not with the ideology of the Nazis.
Madrid responded by saying in a statement that Tebas’ claims were “deeply offensive (and) morally repugnant”.
It added that Madrid believe he is unfit to represent Spain’s leading clubs and that he should consider “immediate resignation”.
“Javier Tebas’s repeated conduct demonstrates a lack of neutrality, respect, and impartiality incompatible with his institutional responsibilities,” a club statement reads.
“His constant attacks on Real Madrid and those demanding transparency and regeneration represent, in our club’s view, a genuine scourge for Spanish football.”
In response, Tebas again took to social media to hit back.
“Is claiming that championships were stolen within freedom of expression, but criticising propaganda methods — while expressly clarifying that no ideologies are being compared nor the fanbase targeted — worthy of an ex officio intervention?” he wrote as part of a lengthy post.
It’s the second time in two months that the football supergiant have called for Tebas’ resignation, having reacted angrily to his challenging the club’s fury over refereeing during their loss to Atletico Madrid in September.
Madrid’s posted to social media in the aftermath of the loss claiming “Terrible refereeing decides the derby”, while manager Jose Mourinho said the league was not a “level playing field”.
In response, Tebas accused the club of being in a state of “permanent conspiracy”.
“Here they go again, the mouthpieces and the regime’s television, building the same old narrative – the permanent conspiracy,” he said.
“Real Madrid are crucial to La Liga. But claiming that ‘La Liga is worth nothing’ without them reveals the disdain for the other clubs, their fans, and their history. The competition belongs to no one.”
In response, the club called for Tebas to be removed from office, saying the league needed a leader “capable of managing it and realising its full potential with the fundamental duty of neutrality”.
Tebas has frequently clashed with Madrid’s president Florentino Perez, especially over the club’s plans to join a European Super League in 2021.