La Liga president Javier Tebas has slammed Florentino Perez and claimed that Perez pressured Barcelona into refusing to attend La Liga’s general assembly in Dubai, to be held on Wednesday.

The La Liga is pushing for a wider growth in the Middle East region, and Tebas has said that hosting the assembly in Dubai would be a good avenue for that.

However, clubs do have the option of participating via video conference if they prefer not to attend.

Real Madrid and Barca both announced last week that they would not be attending the meeting, calling it “illegal” under league rules and “completely inappropriate” given the expenses involved.

Tebas believes Real Madrid have been influencing Barcelona wrongly.

Real Madrid president Florentino Perez and La Liga chief Javier Tebas have been at loggerheads over a series of issues in recent years, including Madrid’s support for the Super League, LaLiga’s €2 billion CVC investment deal and the league’s management of television rights, and Tebas has decided to take a swipe at the club.

“Real Madrid will be present via video call, as other clubs have in other assemblies, so they’ll be here,” La Liga president Javier Tebas said during a talk with Spanish media in Qatar on Tuesday.

“The curious thing is that they’ll be represented by Clifford Chance, who are the same lawyers as for [Super League backers] A22.”

“We don’t know [why Barcelona aren’t attending] right now,” Tebas added.

“The assembly has been planned since Sept. 6. [Barca] were due to attend through their treasurer Ferran Oliver and director of football Mateu Alemany until three days ago. I think they got a phone call from ‘we-all-know-who’, and get in line… [That person is] Florentino [Perez].”