Joan Laporta has claimed that the bribery investigation involving Barcelona’s last three presidents and the club is being used by Real Madrid fans to tarnish the image of the club.
Barcelona are currently under investigation for bribery after it was found that they paid €7.3m to former Vice-President of the Referees Committee between 2001 and 2018. The club claim it was for consultancy fees and scouting reports on referees.
Speaking to Catalunya Radio, Laporta claimed that Real Madrid’s significant swing in the media and the power centres was to blame for how the case being publicly carried out.
“There is a sociological Madridismo in the centers of power. They have a lot of power. I have competed against this sociological Madridismo and I have won. They are afraid that what happened in my first stage would be repeated, we won a lot and that hurt them a lot. They suffered a lot.”
This was something that only reinforces Laporta’s will to overcome Los Blancos though.
“I defend the interests of Barca. The more complications they give me, the more I love Barca, and the challenges they give me.”
“We are used to fighting against this. This madridismo is in the media, in the world of sport, in the media… We have to accept this normally but as cules we must know that we must compete against this. They are terrified that we will repeat what that we already did, that we win everything again.”
“In the Negreira case, we will see if we reach trial. I am a lawyer and I am calm because this cannot prosper. We have a very good legal team. Real Madrid fans have taken advantage of the Negreira case to tarnish the name of Barca and its history. And to destabilise us and control things.”
Laporta previously reassured fans that the case would be archived, and also expressed his unease at the way Barcelona were being investigated.
He was also asked whether they would like Camp Nou to host the 2030 World Cup final, after Spain were awarded the tournament.
“The final? I suppose the centres of power will want it to be at the Bernabeu. We will ask for it because the Camp Nou deserves it but I don’t know if we will achieve it. I would take a semi-final for sure.”
“It also depends the capacity. We will have a capacity of 105,000.”
This would give it a capacity of roughly 24,000 more than the Santiago Bernabeu, Spain’s next largest stadium. Naturally, Carlo Ancelotti has declared that World Cup final should be at the Bernabeu, but multiple reports also claim it will be held in Madrid.
While no doubt some Real Madrid fans are doing exactly that, it is not just Real Madrid fans who are angry or confused about Barcelona’s modus operandi. The other La Liga clubs have also made themselves part of the case as injured parties, and Laporta’s comments on Los Blancos are a distraction from what at best, is a serious error of moral judgement.
Tell that to jury LMAO
Typical political tactic. Go on Catalan radio and scapegoat a people they don’t like in order to distract from your own crimes. Even if what he’s saying is true, that has nothing to do with whether all these allegations are true. Barça always paint themselves in the colour of victimhood. When the wage cap figures for each La Liga sides were released, Real Madrid had a much larger threshold than Barça. Then all these Barça fans say this proves the unfairness. Meanwhile, they have €200m debt in transfers alone and €2 billion debt as a club. Do they want a larger cap so they can get closer to bankruptcy? Whenever they mismanage that club, they blame Real Madrid. It’s quite funny. It’s a scapegoat that riles Catalan emotions and distracts from mismanagement at FC Barça.
He should be blasting pathological bribELonisimo instead.