Real Madrid legend Luis Figo gave advice to Kylian Mbappe, criticized the Super League, and shed light on his sometimes difficult relationship with the club’s president Florentino Perez while also indirectly calling for former employers FC Barcelona to be punished during an interview with MARCA.
Figo was Perez’s first Galactico in the year 2000, when controversially joining from bitter rivals FC Barcelona.
With Mbappe set to be given that name this summer, when completing an expected free transfer after his Paris Saint-Germain contract expires, Figo simply advised the Frenchman to “be happy”.
In 2023/2024, Jude Bellingham has been Perez’s Galactico whose adaptation has gone swimmingly well as Spain’s top scorer from central midfield.
Figo said he was “surprised by the adaptation, but not by [his] quality because I [already] knew him”.
“It’s logical that when you arrive at a club you need to adapt, but he’s done it and it’s all very easy and good for the club and for him.”
When asked whether the Englishman would be able to find a place in the Madrid side he played in, which boasted all-time greats and Ballon d’Or winners such as himself, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo, the Portuguese answered: “Maybe not, but you never know…”
“I’m kidding. I don’t know. We had what we had, a wonderful generation. We had a great team. Players like him always have a place,” Figo added.
Bellingham is currently on the quest to win his first Champions League title at the Bernabeu.
If Perez and Barca counterpart Joan Laporta have anything to do with it, however, it will be one of the last chances to get his hands on the big-eared trophy because of a proposed launch of the breakaway European Super League.
Figo has criticized the concept, before, and didn’t hold back when MARCA gave him a chance to double down on his opposition to it.
“Look, I like competitions if there is truthfulness and sporting merit,” he said. “I’m a Madrid fan and I don’t have anything against Madrid, and disagreeing doesn’t mean being against the club.
“What I see is that a player like me, who started playing for Sporting, is never going to have the opportunity to play in it as the Super League is made.
“My dream was always to play in the Champions League, because I saw it on TV and I said: ‘I want to be like them’.
“So the Super League, as I understand it, doesn’t allow a player like me, who starts at 22 years old at Sporting, to have access to the top competition. Do you think that’s a competition that I should support when I went through the other process?
“And what about domestic leagues? They’re going to kill them. What about Osasuna or the rest of the teams? What about youth or women’s football? For all these reasons, I cannot agree with a competition like the Super League and I never will,” Figo stressed.
Figo was then pushed to comment on his relationship with Perez, which he called one of “respect and admiration”, even though “there are many things we disagree on”.
“Even when I was a player, I didn’t agree [with him sometimes] and I told him so. And if I have to tell you something you don’t like, I’m going to tell you. I don’t get married to anyone and that has brought me a lot of problems. But thank God I’m free and I lead a life where I don’t need to play ball with anyone. Am I wrong? Yes, but I am responsible for my actions and statements,” Figo said defiantly.
“What do you want me to tell you? He is the president of the club that I support and of which I am a member. He’s the president, he brought me to Madrid and he’s … he didn’t kick me out, but he told me ‘you’re leaving now’. We have a politically and sportingly correct relationship,” Figo concluded on this.
As for the ‘Caso Negreira’ as it is known in Spain, which relates to payments made to the former Vice-President of the Referee’s Committee, Figo called for his former club FC Barcelona to be punished.
“We have to get to the bottom of it and there have to be consequences, because it is very serious,” he demanded.
“I don’t know, I’m not a judge. And in Spain look, we could spend the whole afternoon talking about what’s going on.
“If there are laws and there are judges, they must be followed. If there are laws and they are not enforced, then all of us can bypass democracy. We skip the social and sports laws and that’s it. Laws aren’t the same for everyone, but they should be.”
Charged for corruption in the sports field last April, Barca denies wrongdoing in the ongoing case and claims that the payments totalling more than $7 million were made for honest consultation work.
