Real Madrid TV has responded directly to Juanma Castaño after the COPE journalist apologised for comparing the club’s in-house channel with the newspaper Gara, with presenter Álvaro de la Lama arguing on Marca‘s reporting of Real Madrid Conecta that the apology did little to soften Castaño’s continued accusations against RMTV.
RMTV answers after the apology
De la Lama used his platform on the club’s official channel to push back on Castaño, framing the situation as more than a routine media spat. He said the dispute was not, in his view, a personal issue in general terms, but added that he took the Gara comparison personally given what it implied.
His core complaint was that Castaño had walked back the specific comparison while still describing RMTV’s output as misleading and manipulative. According to de la Lama, that combination amounted to renewing the attack in different words rather than genuinely stepping back from it.
How the dispute reached this point
The row traces back to a Castaño column in ABC in which he likened Real Madrid TV to Gara, a publication historically associated with the Basque abertzale left and the financial network once tied to ETA. Real Madrid responded with a club statement calling the comparison an extremely serious act that crossed every acceptable line, as covered in Football España’s report on the original dispute.
Castaño subsequently apologised on his radio programme, El Partidazo, calling the Gara reference excessive. He stopped short of retracting his broader assessment, maintaining that Real Madrid TV lies, manipulates, singles out and harasses in its coverage.
Álvaro de la Lama’s reaction
De la Lama was unambiguous about why the comparison crossed a line for him personally, pointing to the historical weight attached to Gara and its links to ETA’s era. He questioned whether an apology limited to that one phrase could really settle matters when the accusations against the channel continued in the same breath.
He also pointed back to RMTV’s recurring output on refereeing decisions, arguing that footage the channel has broadcast week after week backs up its arguments rather than undermining them, a theme the outlet has returned to repeatedly in its ongoing commentary on refereeing matters. For de la Lama, that record is precisely why he rejects being placed in the same category as a publication tied to a terrorist group’s support network.
| Stage | Development |
|---|---|
| Initial column | Castaño compares RMTV to Gara in ABC |
| Club response | Real Madrid statement calls the comparison extremely serious |
| Apology | Castaño retracts the Gara comparison on El Partidazo, keeps broader criticism |
| RMTV reply | Álvaro de la Lama says Castaño kept attacking despite apologising |
Whether the exchange ends here or draws a further statement from either side remains an open question, but for now both parties have made their positions publicly clear.
