The squabble between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona has started again. The remarks made by Florentino Pérez during the General Assembly last weekend quickly returned to the ears of Joao Laporta. Among various criticisms, the president of Casa Blanca notably recalled the Negreira affair. “It is unacceptable that Barcelona paid more than 8 million euros to the vice-president of referees for at least 17 years, whatever the reason. This vice president held important positions. A period which, moreover, coincides with Barcelona’s best results in Spain.» Such statements obviously caused a lot of noise.
Of course, Barça was not going to let this affront go by and tarnish its integrity. Joan Laporta took advantage of a trip to Andorra, in “neutral lands” to respond to the comments of his Madrid counterpart. ““I find them inappropriate. This reveals Real Madrid’s bias towards Barcelona. It seems like they have to talk about Barça to justify who knows whatdenounces the Barcelona president. They are constantly present in the legal proceedings of the Negreira Affair. They drag it out because they know full well that it is unfounded, but it is a way of justifying something false: Barça has never corrupted a referee, and referees, in general, do not favor Barça.»
“The referees have always favored Real Madrid»
He takes the opportunity to recall the various arbitration errors that his rival has taken advantage of in recent months. “They (the referees) always favored Real Madrid. Just on the last day of La Liga they scored two goals in which, in my opinion, Bellingham clearly touched the ball with his hand, which made it easier for him, and on the other, Vinicius broke Iñaki’s nose. These two goals should not have been validated, and Barça would be leading the championship today.» According to Laporta, Real Madrid TV and its files on the various referees of the championship is a problem. “The Real Madrid TV channel tries to influence the referees every week.”
According to him, the Merengues nourish a deep feeling of inferiority due to the honorary title of best team in the world from the period going from Rijkaard to Luis Enrique, via Guardiola. “They feel persecuted by the best period in Barça’s history. They did not accept that we had the best team in the world from 2004 to 2015, a period of unchallenged domination. They look for excuses that lead to nothing. It was a glorious time. We were the team that played the most beautiful football, recognized, admired and respected. We have won many titles, and Barça’s style of play has conquered the world. So they stop looking for bogus excuses: Barça won on their own merits. They’re just trying to justify themselves.”
“We will not allow them to attack Barça with impunity»
Pérez’s statements visibly touched Laporta because his response was long. It’s still a good sign from his experience. “If they stay focused on Barça, I’m delighted, because that’s usually when Barça triumphs,” he assumes. If they talk about Barça, it’s to distract attention from their own problems. Maybe they are panicking because Barça is being reborn and we could experience a glorious period that they would like to minimize or discredit, but we will not allow it. We will not allow them to attack Barça with impunity.retorts the manager, ending up accusing Real of “barcelonite“. It deserves to be clear.
