Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has insisted the European Super League was not a failure and still has a future, despite only carrying the support of three clubs.
The Spanish giants are just one of three club to continue to support the proposals alongside their El Clasico rivals Barcelona and Italian club Juventus.
The plans were launched in April with 12 founding member clubs, including the Premier League ’s so-called ‘Big Six’ clubs along with Atletico Madrid, Milan and Inter.
However, those remaining nine clubs have all subsequently announced their intentions of backing out of the breakaway league - which was intended to act as a replacement for UEFA’s Champions League.
The proposal was launched in late April and was met by a huge backlash from fans in England, with Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea all pulling out within 48 hours.
They were followed by both Milan clubs and Atletico Madrid, but the remaining three clubs have continued to back the plans and insist that it will take place.
Madrid supremo Perez has now claimed there is ‘a binding contract and no one can leave’, citing an ongoing court case in relation to the legalities and technicalities of contracts signed and how clubs can now proceed.
"We are calm, because of what we have, we have won," Super League president Perez told Onda Cero’s El Transistor show, as cited by ESPN.
"The English teams were coerced.
"They signed something they shouldn't have signed, because they are committed to the Super League. They wanted to punish them, and the courts have said no.
"There is a binding contract and no one can leave. The Super League continues. We went to the judge who made a ruling and said the Super League cannot be touched. UEFA cannot do anything to the people or the clubs. It's stopped. Now the court in Luxembourg must decide."
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Perez continued to trumpet his support for the Super League and claimed that its intention is to save the sport from ‘dying’.
He added: "We have been working on this for two years. It's a format to prevent football, which is losing interest, from dying.
"We are not excluding anyone, but everyone can't be there. A Roma-Sampdoria has less interest than a Manchester [United]-Paris Saint-Germain. The fans are in charge here."
The interview was a wide-ranging one with plenty of topics covered, including the resignation of Zinedine Zidane.
Perez - who was indirectly criticised by Zidane after his departure - said: "It (the resignation didn't surprise me.
"It was one of the possibilities.
"I spent all afternoon trying to convince him. I haven't read it [the resignation letter published in Madrid-based sports paper Diario AS.] They told me it was bad. He didn't write it, that isn't Zidane. Someone wrote it for him."
Perez also addressed the issue of club captain Sergio Ramos leaving Madrid after a failure to negotiate a new contract.
The president added: "I adore Sergio. I won't talk about it. "I won't give my version. We offered him a contract, we told him it had a time limit."
