Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has claimed the fact his team have faced Liverpool only nine times in competitive action is a sign football needs to be revitalised by the European Super League.
Perez is a leading player in the much-derided project that was given a hostile reception when first proposed in April 2021 as an alterative to the Champions League.
Liverpool were one of 12 founding members only to hastily resign their membership in the wake of strong opposition from supporters, players and boss Jurgen Klopp over the closed nature of the competition, with Fenway Sports Group chief John Henry later issuing an apology. The club are involved in a lengthy legal process as they attempt to extricate themselves from their ESL agreement.
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Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus are at present the only three clubs still actively looking to revive the failed initiative, with the trio keen to bolster their income with regular matches against leading European rivals.
And while Liverpool and Real Madrid have met twice in the last five Champions League finals, Perez believes the clubs should be playing each other far more often despite growing criticism that European football has lost some interest due to the same teams playing more regularly.
“If we look at tennis legends, Nadal and Federer have played for example 40 times in 15 years," he said at Real Madrid's annual general meeting on Sunday. "Nadal and Djokovic have so far played 59 games in 16 years. Is this boring?
"These historic clashes have boosted tennis as a whole, all the players and all the tournaments, because it is tennis that is strengthened by the clashes between the best. And why isn't football organised like this?
“In football, on the other hand, the data is amazing. If we look at the last Champions League finalist, Liverpool, an historic team with six European Cups, it turns out that we have played with them only nine times in 67 years. And only three times here in Madrid.
"What is the point of depriving fans around the world of these matches? To make a comparison, if UEFA organised tennis, in its entire history we would hardly have seen two or three matches between Nadal and Federer."
While the Premier League registered a record overall attendance last season, Perez has claimed football is a sport suffering a "disease" that is seeing it surpassed in terms of global audience - and income - by American sports.
"Football is sick," he said. "Young people are less and less interested. We are losing the global entertainment battle. Football disease affects all of European football. Before, football was the leader and now it has been widely surpassed. Soccer is losing the global entertainment battle.
“Numerous data and objective parameters show concern. Young people demand a quality product that today football does not offer. The competitions do not attract except in their final phases."
Perez added: "They (UEFA) intend that there be no debate on formats that, as proposed by the Super League, would make the competition much more attractive. Instead of addressing the debate on all these issues, they continue to try to focus criticism of the Super League exclusively on its supposed format, repeatedly saying that it does not take merit into account.
"The Super League has never been closed to any specific format. The objective of the Super League is to revitalise football with an attractive format throughout the year.”
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