MANCHESTER CITY CONSIDER LEGAL ACTION FOLLOWING REAL MADRID PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE'S ERLING HAALAND CLAIM

 June 4 – Manchester City are considering legal action after Real Madrid presidential candidate Enrique Riquelme publicly claimed he would sign Erling Haaland if elected president of the Spanish giants. 

The extraordinary intervention has added another layer of drama to Real Madrid’s first contested presidential election in two decades, with Riquelme using a television appearance on Wednesday to unveil a Madrid shirt bearing Haaland’s name and suggests the Norwegian striker was open to a move to the Santiago Bernabéu. 

“He has a release clause and would like to join Real Madrid,” Riquelme said. “If I become president, he will play for Real Madrid.” 

The comments were swiftly met with a robust response from both Haaland’s camp and Manchester City. In a joint statement issued by the player’s father and agent, the claims were dismissed outright, before City raised the prospect of legal action over the use of the striker’s image during the campaign. 

“The stories which have emerged from Spain regarding the future of Erling Haaland are untrue,” the statement read. “There is no chance of this happening and there is no contractual clause to enable it. 

“We are considering legal action for the use of our player image in this context.” 

Riquelme did not stop there. The 37-year-old businessman also pledged to bring City midfielder Rodri to Madrid should he defeat long-serving president Florentino Pérez. 

“He is a great player, in a position where Madrid need to strengthen,” Riquelme said. “We have spoken to his agent. We have to respect his club, but if I’m president he will play for Madrid. I will do everything possible.”

 The transfer promises have become a central feature of a campaign that has transformed what is usually a predictable Real Madrid presidential process into one of the club’s most colourful elections in recent memory. 

Pérez, who has largely dominated Madrid politics since returning to power in 2009, is facing opposition for the first time in 20 years following a disappointing campaign in which the club failed to secure major silverware. 

Riquelme has attempted to position himself as the candidate of change, promising sweeping benefits for club members, including the construction of a new fan complex near Madrid’s training centre featuring swimming pools, padel courts and a basketball arena. 

He has also pledged to cut annual membership fees by up to 50% should the club fail to win the Champions League next season. 

The challenger has further differentiated himself by opposing Pérez’s reported decision to appoint José Mourinho as head coach. While Pérez has yet to formally confirm the appointment, it is widely expected should he secure another term in office. 

Instead, Riquelme has repeatedly hinted at alternative targets, with former Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp emerging as the standout name linked to his campaign. 

“My coach is the one Real Madrid fans want,” Riquelme said this week, declining to reveal a specific candidate. Speaking previously about Klopp, he added: “Naturally, I would love for profiles of that calibre, and others like them, to coach this club.” 

Pérez, meanwhile, has sought to focus attention on football matters rather than campaign theatrics. “I always say that in football you don’t always win,” he said. 

“We haven’t achieved the expected results, but we’ve identified the problems. The team couldn’t have a pre-season due to the Club World Cup, and that hampered us all year. 

“We had almost 30 injuries in the first half of the season and that was a decisive factor. We’re already working to face the challenges of the new season.” 

The increasingly bitter campaign has also been marked by public attempts from both camps to undermine one another. During Riquelme’s appearance on popular Spanish television show El Hormiguero, Pérez’s supporters reportedly purchased advertising space to announce Mourinho as the club’s next manager and urge members to back the incumbent president. 

Yet amid the political manoeuvring, it is the Haaland saga that has generated potentially the biggest consequences. 

- Harry Ewing

MOST TROPHIES 🏆 | REAL MADRID PREIDENT

REAL MADRID BOSS ANCELOTTI SLAMS BARCELONA CELEBRATIONS IN CLASICO ROUT

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti was unhappy with how Barcelona's bench celebrated their fourth goal after seeing his side beaten 4-0 in Saturday's Clásico at the Santiago Bernabéu.

Robert Lewandowski scored twice, with Lamine Yamal and Raphinha also finding the net as Barça ended Madrid's 42-game unbeaten streak in LaLiga and moved six points clear of them at the top of the table.

The celebrations after the fourth goal, Raphinha's 10th of the campaign, spilled in front of the Madrid bench with Ancelotti confronting Barça coach Hansi Flick. Ancelotti, though, said his issue was with the behaviour of one of Flick's assistants.

"[The problem] was with the assistant, not with Flick," Ancelotti said in his postgame news conference when asked to clear up what had happened. "The assistant was not a gentleman with the way he celebrated in front of bench. And Flick agreed with us."

Asked about the incident in his news conference, Flick said: "I didn't see it. I just spoke with Carlo and it was something ... it's normal in this situation, when you celebrate a goal maybe it's not ... we're old enough to speak about that."

Carlo Ancelotti was unhappy with Barcelona's celebrations for their fourth goal against Real Madrid. OSCAR DEL POZO/AFP via Getty Images

Madrid had won the past four Clásicos in all competitions and avoiding defeat here would have seen them match Barça's LaLiga record 43-game unbeaten streak.

However, following a goalless first half, they collapsed after the break.

Lewandowski scored twice in three minutes to take his tally to 17 for the campaign in all competitions. Then Yamal, becoming the youngest Clásico scorer at 17, and Raphinha completed the rout.

"Until the goal, it was an even game," Ancelotti said. "We had chances and could have scored, but we weren't clinical. When they score, it saps some energy from you and it becomes another game. They did a lot of damage on the counter.

"I liked the first half, we have to follow that line. We don't have to throw everything away, we just have to forget the last 30 minutes. We can't give up, we just have to learn. We came out of the last defeat well against Atlético Madrid last season and we have to do the same. I am certain we will do better."

It proved a tough introduction to the Clásico for Kylian Mbappé, who had two goals ruled out for offside and missed a slew of chances.

In total, Mbappé was caught offside eight times -- tied for most in a LaLiga game in the past 15 seasons -- as Los Blancos, who had 12 offside calls in total, struggled to get in behind Barça's high line.

"We took risks with his position," Ancelotti added of Mbappé's performance. "They have a high line and due to fine margins we have not been able to take advantage of it. He has also had three or four chances and has not taken them when we need a little more.

"The result doesn't reflect what happened on pitch. Barça go ahead and then the confidence that came from that changed the game. We took risks and they're a team in form who were dangerous on the break. The defeat worries me, but we have to pick ourselves up quickly. We have to keep fighting. We're not going to be that far away this season from what we did last season."

The result capped a remarkable week for Barça, coming just four days after they demolished Bayern Munich 4-1 in the Champions League.

Under Flick they have now won 12 of 14 games in all competitions, but the German coach refused to get carried away.

"We start the journey and we're doing really well," he said. "Like I always say, we have to make things better and we do it also, but today was not easy. We keep going with our idea, we have a flow at the moment and we have to keep going.

"I've always said I'm really happy to work for Barça and also to live in Barcelona. It's an amazing job, it's a new part of my life and it feels really good. Today we made a fantastic match and I'm really proud about the team. And how we play is very important as well.

"This will give the players more confidence. The celebration in the dressing room was good to see. Now we have a recovery day, then I give the players two days off and after the focus is on Espanyol next weekend."

- Sam Marsden, Barcelona correspondent

BARCELONA'S RAPHINHA SAYS BAYERN ROUT 'REVENGE' FOR FANS

Barcelona forward Raphinha said Wednesday's thumping 4-1 Champions League win over Bayern Munich served as "revenge" for the club's supporters for past results against the German giants.

Raphinha starred with a hat trick on his 100th appearance for Barça as the Catalan club ended a run of six successive defeats against Bayern in the competition.

The Brazilian was only there for two of those games -- and he had not signed for Barça when they lost 8-2 to Bayern in 2020 -- but he said he experienced them all as a supporter.

"It was revenge for the fans I think," Raphinha said after the game. "For us on the inside, the players, we don't look at the past. We focus on the next game. But I suffered those games as a fan, too.

"It's been an amazing, special night, scoring [a hat trick] on my 100th game for the club. I am very happy with the performance and how we played.

"As a team, we played really well and that's the most important thing for me. Getting that second win in the Champions League was important."

Barça and Bayern both came into the fixture at the Olympic Stadium with one win and one loss from their opening games in this season's Champions League, making it imperative not to drop more points given the uncertainty over how many will be needed to progress in the new format.

Raphinha opened the scoring inside the opening minute, but Harry Kane drew Bayern level with his 14th goal of the season in all competitions.

Robert Lewandowski restored Barça's lead before half-time and two more goals from Raphinha either side of the break earned Barça the points in a game the former Leeds United attacker feels could have been the final.

"I said before the game this could be a Champions League final," he added. "Maybe not everyone agrees with me, but in my opinion it could be.

"So to be able to win in this manner, in front of our fans, is quite special and I am really happy."

Raphinha celebrates with his Barcelona teammates after beating Bayern Munich in the Champions League. Getty Images

Raphinha, who captained Barça on the night, now has nine goals and six assists in all competitions in what is his third season with the Blaugrana. He was named MVP by UEFA for his performance.

"I will give [the MVP] award to my son, it will be another trophy for him, although he prefers the match balls," he joked. "But it's a trophy that shows what I can do in the Champions League. Since I signed I have dreamed of these nights: scoring goals, playing these games and making a difference."

The victory sets Barça up perfectly for Saturday's trip to Real Madrid for the first Clásico of the season. If they win at the Santiago Bernabéu, they could open up a six point lead at the top of the table.

Coach Hansi Flick -- who was in charge of Bayern for that 8-2 four years ago -- lauded an "incredible" win against his former side, but tempered expectations about winning the Champions League as he looked ahead to taking on Madrid.

"No, it's too soon, we just started the season," he said in a news conference when asked if the result makes Barça a genuine contender to win the trophy. "We're on a long road in LaLiga and in the Champions League. We are taking things game by game. We're obviously very proud of the result tonight, but on Saturday it continues with another hard game.

"We want to deliver another top performance. It's an incredible result against a fantastic team and gives us confidence for Saturday. I am very proud of the team. We saw the joy of the team and how they celebrated."

It was a different story for Bayern, who tasted defeat for the second game running in the Champions League after losing at Aston Villa last time out.

Coach Vincent Kompany had few complaints with the result, but said there were moments around Kane's equaliser when he thought his side could get points from the game.

"What I can share at the moment is how we felt the game went at the start or in the first half versus what we thought we could achieve in this game," Kompany said in a news conference. "I think all of us, and you guys would have felt it too, felt like we could edge this game, that it could turn for us.

"But in key moments we got outdone and for that reason the result is fairly heavy. We have to learn from this game so the next opportunities we have we are stronger again."

- Sam Marsden and Moises Llorens

SANTIAGO BERNABÉU STADIUM | 1947

 

MBAPPÉ AND LAMINE YAMAL PREPARE FOR BATTLE IN LA LIGA'S NEXT EPIC TALE

Frenchman’s journey to Madrid was a story foretold, seemingly forever, but he arrives a superstar, not a saviour.

Kylian Mbappé was 13 the first time he trained with Real Madrid and 25 the second. Now, at last, he can play for them. And while this was a chronicle foretold and retold, over and over again for so long, much as he said “I knew this was my destiny” and everyone else knew it was, however inevitable it had always seemed, tedious at times too, it still felt a bit weird when he turned up at Valdebebas again last week. He was actually here. On Thursday, La Liga 2024-25 begins; one way or the other, it will always be his, even if it turns out not to be.

This has taken long enough. “I was close two years ago, three years ago,” Mbappé said. And the rest. Invited to train with Madrid in 2012, a kid but not just a kid, he had been driven by Zinedine Zidane to the club’s training pitches, asking if he should take his shoes off in the car. He met Cristiano Ronaldo, whose posters covered his bedroom wall, and took a picture of his own. You’ll have seen the images of him gazing up at them many times. While in Paris he even published a book called My Name is Kylian, which told the story of a boy visited by Ronaldo and Zidane in dreams coloured white. Subtle, it was not.

It’s eight years since his dad told everyone he was a Madrid fan who admired Cristiano Ronaldo, seven since Madrid tried to sign him. “Seven years is a long time,” he said, and it has felt like it too; in truth it has often felt like a waste. He is 25 now. It’s been “done” many times but never got done; now it has been, better late than never. Or maybe just better late, full stop, the wait making it all mean more, fit better?

At his unveiling, Mbappé walked out and looked up at the Santiago Bernabéu with a “wow”, then signed off with a “1, 2, 3, Hala Madrid” – a nod to Ronaldo, who had done the same, in 2009. Gareth Bale cost more than Ronaldo had, so in fact did Eden Hazard, but no signing was as big as that, until this. A footballer long since called to lead a new era, post-Messi and Ronaldo: almost 80,000 people were there to see it. He had struggled to sleep the night before, he said.

That’s the story part, and at least to start with he will be the story, although the time since his presentation has shown that he will not be the only one. Now to the actual sport, and there are some questions. Above all about where he fits, how to get the pieces to go together, which may even distract from a deeper doubt: who does what Toni Kroos, a truly irreplaceable player, did?

Mbappé, Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo occupy similar spaces, or like to. Jude Bellingham too is affected; entrusted with a new role off the front last season – in part a response to Karim Benzema’s unexpected departure – and becoming the league’s most decisive performer, he may have to adapt again. All four started in Super Cup final against Atalanta on Wednesday night. They also have Endrick, an 18-year-old Brazilian striker who declared his admiration for an altogether more unexpected idol: Bobby Charlton. Yes, really.

“I’m not saying we will play the same way. Something will change, but not much,” Carlo Ancelotti insisted. “I think the system we use this season will be a 4-3-3 or a 4-4-2, the same as last year. Sometimes we played 4-3-3, sometimes 4-4-2, sometimes 4-2-3-1; we have the resources to play all three.”

As for Mbappé, he says: “I will play where the manager tells me. I come with ambition and humility. The priority is to adapt to the collective.” One comment sounded as if learned from Bale: “I don’t want to score a goal and just go home,” he insisted.

That message fits now, is easier to assimilate; had Mbappé come a year earlier it might not have, suggesting that the timing may not be a bad thing, that the human balance may be improved. He comes as a superstar sure, but not as a saviour. In those seven years, he didn’t win the Champions League but Madrid did, repeatedly.

Some have dared to imagine that they will be invincible now. That might be a fear, but it tends not to work like that. Mbappé’s arrival will be good for Spanish football, the league’s president, Javier Tebas, kept saying. And if those are words that sounded a little needy at times, focused more on the product than the play, this does not feel like a rescue operation as it once might have. He needs them as much as they him. And although he will step on to centre stage again, over the past month or so he has not dominated it alone, and nor will he this season.

Because there’s always something, someone. Because, when it comes down to what it’s supposed to come down to – actually playing football – Spain is very good at this. This summer they won Euro 2024, perhaps the best champions the competition has had. They won men’s Olympic gold. They won the European Under-19 Championship. Their women’s team are world champions. They have the Champions League winners in the men’s and women’s game. Now they have arguably the world’s best player. Arguable because of Vinícius and Bellingham and Euro 2024 shining a light on others, shifting perceptions for everyone, including the Spanish themselves.

The best of them, Rodri, plays in England, it is true. Fabián Ruiz is still at Paris Saint-Germain. Marc Cucurella drinks his Estrella and eats his paella in London. Álvaro Morata has departed for Milan, a human decision as much as a footballing one. And there was a crushing inevitability about Girona, the team that most challenged Madrid for much of last season, being dismantled – Aleix García, Savinho, Yan Couto and Eric García have all gone.

But that success has not led to an exodus, or a weakening, a similar stripping of the selección. It has instead been a kind of awakening. The talent was there, waiting to be seen. It was everywhere: Spain’s starting XI in the final had just one player each from Madrid and Barcelona. The goals were scored by Nico Williams and Mikel Oyarzabal, a player from admirable Basque sides Athletic and another from Real Sociedad. It probably won’t be for ever but it says something, something good, that as the league kicks off tonight, for all the pursuit, Williams and la Real’s Martin Zubimendi chose to stay at their current clubs.

Atlético Madrid have signed Alex Sørloth and Julián Álvarez; it is hard to remember the last time a new arrival caused such excitement. Maybe the warning is that the last time might have been João Félix. Conor Gallagher came, saw, and went back again, and now waits for his move to be confirmed.

Dani Olmo has come home: perhaps the standout player in Germany has returned to Barcelona, now led by Hansi Flick. He joins the most exciting player there is right now: Lamine Yamal, a European champion and scorer of that goal against France, a teenager pushed into a blinding glare but, they hope, with the talent to take it, to take them all. So no pressure kid. If Ronaldo welcomed Mbappé, still a kid, Lionel Messi anointed Lamine Yamal, still a baby: the most bizarre, unlikely, almost biblical story of the footballing summer, coinciding with another tale written up as destiny. The timing, in the end, was right. No, they are not alone, but here they are, thrust forward: two new faces of a familiar old, epic battle, played out on Spanish fields.

+ Sid Lowe in Madrid

RFEF TO PROBE REAL MADRID REF CLIPS AFTER SEVILLA COMPLAINT

Vinícius Júnior argues with the referee during Real Madrid's draw with Valencia last Saturday. Photo by Jose Hernandez/Anadolu via Getty Images

 The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) has opened an investigation into Real Madrid TV's broadcasting of videos criticising referees ahead of games, Sevilla said on Thursday.

Sevilla filed a complaint on Feb. 24 before the two clubs met in LaLiga at the Bernabéu, claiming Real Madrid TV had undertaken a "campaign of persecution and harassment" against the referees due to take charge of the match.

Madrid's club television channel has regularly broadcast criticism of referees and their decisions before and after matches this season.

"The Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), via its Judges and Disciplinary Committee, has informed us that they have opened an investigation into Real Madrid, following our complaint of the videos broadcast by Real Madrid TV in the build-up to games," Sevilla said in a statement on Thursday.

"Ahead of our match at the Santiago Bernabéu, Real Madrid TV released a video scrutinising referees Isidro Díaz de Mera and Pablo González Fuertes, the referee and VAR respectively chosen for the match.

"The club decided to take action in light of the fact that these practices, which have been a recurring theme in recent times, including before a league meeting earlier this season between the two teams, are seriously damaging to Spanish football and call the integrity of the competition and its officiating body into question.

"Furthermore, above all, this malpractice seeks to influence individual matchday referees, as the videos attempt to create an image of lack of professionalism and anti-Madrid bias, right before fixtures are scheduled to be played. This has major repercussions for matches played at the Santiago Bernabéu, as tens of thousands of Madrid fans arrive convinced that an anti-Madrid bias exists amongst referees, which increases tension significantly and creates an unfair level of pressure on them."

Sevilla are the first club to register a formal complaint over Real Madrid TV's videos, although others have also expressed their unhappiness at the practice, accusing Madrid of seeking to influence officials.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta described Real Madrid TV's videos as "shameful" in an interview with Catalan radio station RAC1 last month, calling on the RFEF to "get involved" in the matter.

Barca coach Xavi Hernandez agreed, claiming that "[the videos] influence the competition completely, week after week."

Luis Media Cantalejo, the head of Spain's refereeing body, has complained that Real Madrid TV are "putting pressure" on referees.

"There's no sport, no team in the world that does this," he told COPE radio. "What's happening with this TV channel has never happened anywhere else. What they're doing seems absolutely negative to me. I've never seen it in 40 years of refereeing."

The latest incident that left Madrid unhappy with a official's decision-making came in their 2-2 draw at Valencia on Saturday in LaLiga, when referee Jesus Gil Manzano blew the full-time whistle seconds before Jude Bellingham had the ball in the net for what have been the winning goal.

Coach Carlo Ancelotti, who has defended Real Madrid TV's videos as "freedom of expression," called the decision "unpredecented."

In a speech to the club's AGM last year, Madrid president Florentino Perez called for government intervention in Spain's refereeing body, saying "urgent" reforms were needed to safeguard "the well-being of Spanish football."

- Alex Kirkland and Rodrigo Faez