Casillas and Raul became Madrid legends after spending a combined total of 43 years at the club after graduating from the club’s academy.

They both won seven La Liga titles between them.

Raul left the Bernabeu in 2010, moving to Schalke having scored more than 300 goals for the Spanish giants while Casillas was forced out of Madrid after playing more than 700 times for the club.

Now, a secret recording from a 2006 conversation has emerged in which Perez blasted the two club legends. The conversation took place six months after Perez resigned from his first spell as president amid criticism that he had focused too much on brand appeal rather than footballing success.

Perez said “He is not a goalkeeper for Real Madrid. He is not and he never has been. It has been the great failure we have had, what happens is that they [the fans] adore him, they love him, they talk to him. I don’t know why they defend him so much. Well, it’s one of the great frauds, the second is Raul. The two great Real Madrid frauds are Raul first and Casillas second. Zidane’s a great guy. And Beckham and Ronaldo. … But then there are the others that think that … let’s see. Raul is a bad person. He thinks Madrid is his and he uses everything there is in Madrid, developing everything for his own benefit. Him and his agent. They are to blame for Madrid not doing well. Look, I left, among other reasons, because of him. He is a negative guy, he is destroying Madrid.”

Perez has now come out to hut back at the publisher of the audio recording, claiming that the recording has only been published to discredit him in the face of the European Super League scandal.

The statement read “Given the news broadcast in El Confidencial, in which phrases attributed to me are reported, I think it is necessary to clarify,” The reproduced phrases are pronounced in conversations clandestinely recorded by Mr Jose Antonio Abellan, who has been trying to sell them for many years without success. It is surprising now that, despite the time that has elapsed, the newspaper El Confidencial reports them today. They are single phrases of conversations taken from the broad context in which they occur. For them to be reproduced now, after so many years have passed since those conversations took place, is I understand due to my participation as one of the promoters of the Super League. I have put the matter in the hands of my lawyers who are studying the possible actions to take.”

A statement from the Spanish giants said Perez, 73, had returned a positive result in the club’s routine tests and was currently asymptomatic.

It read: “Real Madrid C. F. would like to inform you that our president Florentino Pérez has tested positive in the Covid-19 tests that he periodically undergoes, although he is not showing any symptoms.”