Real Madrid, Juventus and Barcelona have hit out at Uefa for “unacceptable pressures, threats and offences” to abandon the now doomed European Super League.
The bitter feud over the breakaway competition rumbles on following the other nine clubs, including the Premier League’s ‘big six’, signing a reconciliation agreement with the governing body.
Those clubs will sacrifice five per cent of their European competition revenue and make a £13m aggregate donation to Uefa, but the remaining three clubs continue to hold their stance over the idea.
And after Aleksander Ceferin vowed heavy punishments for the remaining three clubs for not relenting on their plans to form a rival competition to the Champions League, a joint-statement from those clubs has pushed back against Uefa.
A statement read: “The founding clubs have suffered, and continue to suffer, unacceptable third-party pressures, threats, and offences to abandon the project and therefore desist from their right and duty to provide solutions to the football ecosystem via concrete proposals and constructive dialogue.
“This is intolerable under the rule of law and Tribunals have already ruled in favour of the Super League proposal, ordering FIFA and UEFA to, either directly or through their affiliated bodies, refrain from taking any action which may hinder this initiative in any way while court proceedings are pending.”
The trio of clubs maintain it would even be “highly irresponsible to abandon” their efforts to bring “effective and sustainable answers to the existential questions that threaten the football industry”.
The trio also maintain their desire to bring a bigger platform to women’s football, while condemning Uefa and Fifa for “refusing to establish any adequate channel of communication”.
While the other nine clubs - Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham, Atletico Madrid, AC Milan and Inter Milan - were also criticised for their “inconsistent position”.
