Real Madrid published a video lasting three minutes and 14 seconds from its official accounts on Thursday, escalating a dispute with COPE's Great Game host Juanma Castaño days after the journalist apologised for one accusation against the club’s television channel while refusing to withdraw another.
Real Madrid turns the dispute into a personal video response
The clip opens with Castaño’s column in ABC, titled El Real Madrid, en guerra, and the line that first inflamed the row, his comparison of Real Madrid TV with the Basque newspaper Gara. From there, the video takes the four accusations Castaño later levelled at the channel, that it lies, manipulates, targets and harasses, and turns them back on him one by one.
Before opening its archive, the video announces its intent directly: “Pero ahora vamos a ver quién realmente miente, manipula, señala y hostiga.” The dispute began with the ABC column, moved to an official Real Madrid communiqué, and now, with the club itself compiling a decade of Castaño’s on-air history, has become a direct institutional confrontation rather than a channel defending its own coverage.
The examples used in the club’s montage
The montage draws on several moments from Castaño’s career to answer each accusation, though these remain the club’s own selection and framing rather than adjudicated fact.
| Accusation | Episode cited by Real Madrid |
|---|---|
| lie | Castaño’s report linking Toni Kroos to Enrique Riquelme’s presidential campaign, which Kroos rebutted with three Pinocchio emojis |
| Manipulate | Castaño calling the 2018 Real Madrid-Juventus penalty on Lucas Vázquez a global scandal, contrasted with his praise for Barcelona’s 6-1 win over PSG |
| Point out | Comments on Vinícius Júnior, the word “desviado” used in an interview involving Pau Cubarsí, and an exchange with Athenea del Castillo about online insults |
| Harassment | Castaño’s argument that footballers should not get up at night to care for children, later challenged publicly by Ana Peleteiro |
The video closes on a photograph of Castaño at a barbecue alongside, among others, Atlético de Madrid chief executive Miguel Ángel Gil Marín. The World notes the club offers no explanation for the image’s inclusion.
Castaño answers after apologising for the Gara comparison
Castaño had already apologised on air for comparing Real Madrid TV to Gara but insisted his broader criticism stood, telling listeners his opinion of the channel remained unchanged. Real Madrid TV’s Álvaro de la Lama had questioned the value of that apology before the club’s video even aired, according to Real Madrid TV’s on-air response.
Responding to the video itself, Castaño called the decision to publish a decade-spanning compilation from Real Madrid's official channels absolutely unpublished, and shifted blame from the club to Florentino Pérez personally. He said: “I'm not going to change. I don't care. Does it bother me? Yes, it bothers me, but it also affects my salary and my job,” before offering the president an empty studio microphone to answer him directly.