Real Madrid not banking on silverware this year - Perez

MADRID, Nov 10 (Reuters) - President Florentino Perez has played down Real Madrid’s trophy expectations this season, saying the club are looking long term.

“Our dream is to build a spectacular team but it would not be a failure if we didn’t win a title,” Perez told Spanish television station Cuatro on Tuesday.

“We are at the start of a new project. We are giving it stability. We aren’t going to get nervous because it hasn’t all come together perfectly in the first year.”

Perez’s return in June for a second spell as president set in motion a 250 million euro ($374.5 million) reconstruction programme that brought in players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema.

Expectations have soared in the local media, fired by the possibility of Real making the Champions League final at the Bernabeu in May and of winning a possible 10th European Cup in front of their own fans.

(Writing by Mark Elkington, editing by Tony Jimenez. To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)