Florentino Pérez reportedly threatened to leave the Metropolitano after learning that Enrique Riquelme had been invited to the presidential box for the Madrid derby. The Real Madrid president was said to be so angry that people around him had to calm him down. He stayed and watched Atlético win 2-1.
Paco González revealed the episode on Tiempo de Juego on Cadena COPE. Juanma Castaño later added details on El Partidazo. Information from the COPE account, Pérez said he would leave if he met Riquelme inside the box. ABC reported his words as: “But who invited him? If I run into him, I’m leaving the stadium.”
Enrique Riquelme was the candidate Florentino Pérez defeated in the Real Madrid presidential election. His presence at the Metropolitano turned an invitation into a confrontation between the current Madrid president and a former electoral rival. The tension was heightened by Riquelme’s place in the VIP area, rather than among ordinary spectators.
Pérez had gone to Atlético’s stadium because he has a very good relationship with Enrique Cerezo. He reportedly learned about Riquelme’s invitation during the directors’ lunch in the ante-box before the match. Juanma Castaño described the reaction as a major scene over Riquelme’s presence.
Enrique Riquelme is also known outside football as the chairman of Cox and an entrepreneur. El Mundo reported that he had recently been in the news over the transfer of his patrimonial structure to Panama, adding a business dimension to the profile of Pérez’s former electoral rival.
The reports do not say that Pérez left the stadium. They say people calmed him down and he remained in the box for the match. ABC also reported that Riquelme stayed in the box and watched the derby. The threatened departure became a private confrontation, with no visible exit during the game.
The incident happened before kick-off, not during the match. Mundo Deportivo repeated the account that Pérez had to be calmed down before staying in the box until the final whistle. The setting was the presidential box, where formal hospitality met football politics before Atlético’s 2-1 victory.
Riquelme was not described as a spectator in the stands. He was an invited guest in the presidential box. Pérez was there because of his relationship with Cerezo. The result was a clash over who should share that space.
Football power struggles can turn a symbolic setting into the basic story. The contrast with an earlier political report is limited but clear: both stories show how a public confrontation can begin with a rival’s presence in a highly visible setting. Here, the reported facts go no further than the dispute in the box and Pérez’s decision to stay.
No institutional decision or formal sanction was reported, and neither Real Madrid nor Atlético changed its operations. Pérez learned about Riquelme’s invitation during the pre-match directors’ meeting, became furious and threatened to leave if they met. Those around him calmed him down, and he stayed for a derby Atlético won 2-1. The episode was football politics, not a change in either club’s operation.
