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CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 8 : Roger Federer (R) of Switzerland and Rafael Nadal (L) of Spain play a tennis match at Cape Town Stadium as part of an exhibition game held to support the education of African children, on February 8, 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
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CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – FEBRUARY 8 : Roger Federer (R) of Switzerland and Rafael Nadal (L) of Spain play a tennis match at Cape Town Stadium as part of an exhibition game held to support the education of African children, on February 8, 2020 in Cape Town, South Africa. (Photo by Stringer/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
The European Super League (ESL) project didn’t last long in football. Initiated by Florentino Perez, President of Spanish club Real Madrid, it failed to impress the football fans and received a lot of backlash. However, in a recent interview, Perez tried to explain the project by citing the example of matches between tennis legends- Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
As a part of the ESL, a big club would have only competed with other big clubs. Perez argued that this would have brought in more money and fans would have gotten to watch two big teams playing against each other every week instead of one big team playing against a smaller one.
“If what they want is for a modest team from Turkey to want to enter, it is because… The money comes from where there is competition and there are games where there is no competition,” said Florentino Perez in the interview. (Translated by Google Translate)
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Rafael Nadal of Spain and Roger Federer of Switzerland embrace at the net after their men’s singles semi-final match. Day Thirteen of the 2019 French Open at Roland Garros on June 07, 2019, in Paris, France. (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Perez even drew a parallel with tennis matches and mentioned that fans would always want to watch more of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal matches. He believes that these matches would bring much more engagement.
“You have to do Federer – Nadal matches every Tuesday and Wednesday. The one who is tall has a taller suit and the one who is small has a small suit and both of them feel comfortable in their suit,” added the Real Madrid President.
Football Fans reject Florentino Perez’s idea even after listening to his Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal matches’ comparison
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Football fans were not at all happy after the news of the ESL broke in. As a result, they started mounting pressure on their respective clubs to withdraw from the tournament.
As of now, the ‘Big Six’- Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Tottenham Hotspur have withdrawn from the tournament along with Milan and Inter Milan. Experts believe that ESL is over even before its start and soon the remaining four clubs including Real Madrid will too withdraw from the league.
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The ESL has initiated a discussion among tennis fans as well. They too have started to think or dream of a tournament where Rafael Nadal would only play Roger Federer or Novak Djokovic. However, that doesn’t stand anywhere on the ground right now and fans are currently witnessing some great tennis at the Barcelona Open 2021.
Also Read: “Elegant Sh*t”: Hollywood Actor Reveals His Admiration for Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer
