Barcelona President took time out of his defence of the club during the Caso Negreira press conference in order to attack rivals Real Madrid. He admitted that he was not happy with Los Blancos before launching some accusations of his own.
Laporta opened his press conference with a 35-minute speech, where he denied any wrongdoing, claiming that Barcelona were the victim of a campaign to destabilise the club.
After criticising the campaign, in which he included La Liga President Javier Tebas, he turned his attention to Real Madrid.
“I want to highlight the case of one club. That club is Real Madrid. A club that has always been favoured historically and was club of the regime.”
“I want to remind you that over 70 years, the majority of people who have assigned referees have been directors, members or players of Real Madrid. Or sometimes all at the same time.”
“That Real Madrid would present themselves in this case, as a victim of sporting corruption, is an act of maximum cynicism. After the most successful period in Barcelona’s history… man…”
“There are no coincidences. This is a campaign to destabilise us.”
He doubled down on his answer in the questions section of the press conference later on.
“We all know Real Madrid have been favoured historically,” he stated dramatically.
“It is an act of maximum cynicism for Real Madrid to present themselves as an injured party.”
Even so, he would not go as far as calling relations ‘broken’ with Real Madrid.
“Relations with Real Madrid are damaged [not broken], but as they are with many clubs.”
He would go on to say he felt it was a lack of professionalism from the clubs involved to get involved in the manner they did.
It seems as if this may be a before and after point in Florentino Perez and Joan Laporta’s relationship. The pair had been on good terms since the latter returned to power, as the two clubs moved in the same direction. However relations look set to sour further.
Only difference being your club have been caught paying extraorbital amounts to head of vice refs in a timeframe when you won 4 leagues out if 5 and got 0 penalties against you and our club…. well come back with some receipts to back your claim, instead of those salty tear emotions.