Real Madrid to appeal EU decision to repay "illegal aid"

During the unveiling of the new Santiago Bernabéu stadium plans which will see the home of Real Madrid given a completely new look, club president Florentino Pérez confirmed that they would be appealing the EU decision requiring the club to repay 18.4 million euros in alleged illegal aid from a land deal.

Confident of EU appeal victory

'We are going to file an appeal, and I am absolutely convinced we will win,' Real's president told the press conference.

The case has put the European Union's powerful executive on collision course with the 11-times European champions and one of the world's wealthiest clubs. The European Commission accuses Real and Madrid city council - which at the time was run by the conservative Popular Party - of illegal payment related to the sale of a plot of municipal land.

In 1998, the club paid the city 595,000 euros for the land but the deal ultimately fell through because of technical problems. In 2011, the city paid Real 22.7 million euros in compensation. According to an assessor hired by the Commission, this figure was over-stated by a massive 18.4 million euros and thus amounted to illicit aid.

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The Barcelona company is not qualified

Pérez, however, dismissed the far lower valuation of the property.

'It's meaningless when you see it's been carried out by a company from Barcelona that furthermore is tiny and not an expert,' he argued. 'There's nothing in this case", Pérez repeated 'We are going to file an appeal against the European Commission's assessment.'

Since 2015, the Madrid council has been run by the political left. On August 29, it said it would pursue Madrid for payment of the 18.4 million.