Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez has launched a fierce criticism against UEFA for redoing the Champions League draw and placing the "Royal" team in a "catastrophic" matchup. Pérez described the Round of 16 draw as "shameful" and accused UEFA of "lying" after the draw was redone. Sources within the club told ESPN that UEFA misled everyone by claiming the mistake came from the external company that provided the draw system, whereas the reality is that the error was made by officials during the draw process.
Initially, UEFA conducted a draw that placed Real Madrid in a relatively easy match against Portuguese club Benfica. However, the draw was redone due to technical errors in selecting the teams, resulting in Real Madrid facing a very challenging opponent in star-studded Paris Saint-Germain. Real Madrid submitted a request to keep their matchup with Benfica, arguing that it was the first matchup drawn, and thus the subsequent technical error should not affect the initial pairing. However, UEFA ignored Real Madrid's demands and decided to completely annul the original draw and redo it, which left Real Madrid in a difficult position facing the "Paris squad."
