Barcelona are one of three clubs still insistent on starting up a European Superleague, even if there is no sign of it actually materialising. Last weekend Florentino Perez gave a lengthy and defiant pitch on the Superleague to club members at Real Madrid’s General Assembly and now Barcelona President Joan Laporta has made public comments about it again.
Marca covered his quotes which were made at an event with Sonora. Laporta seemed to be trying to address some of the doubts that many fans have about the Superleague.
“I entered into the Superleague as a representative of Barca with everything already quite advanced. My criteria was, to get rid of a closed league, we have a to have an Superleague, there must be a meritocracy.”
“And there is another thing we have to combine it with, the Superleague with the leagues of every country. For me, that is incredibly important. I believe in the leagues of every country and for me it would be a serious error if the Superleague substitutes the leagues.”
He also explained his viewpoint on the biggest sides in Europe constantly playing each other, with many suspecting that the greater revenues that may produce are at the heart of the matter.
“I think that playing between the big clubs just amongst ourselves all the time would get tiring. It would end up tired. For those of us who like football, we would end up tired. It is beautiful and healthy that a smaller team beats a big one. Going for the underdog is very beautiful. And when Leicester won in England it was special. That is football.”
“A Superleague that will be an improved Champions League. With a very good format of the competition, it will definitely be the most attractive competition in the world.”
It is worth pointing out that Barcelona are one of the strongest forces in ensuring that underdogs have as little chance of beating the big teams as anyone in the world.
When it comes to a share of the revenue within La Liga, Barcelona and Real Madrid eat most of the pie. The smallest salary limits in La Liga are over 15 times smaller than that of Los Blancos and the disparity between the biggest sides and the El Clasico duo would only increase with the Superleague. It seems Barcelona and Laporta are intent on forging ahead with it.
