Barcelona President Joan Laporta – ‘The competition has been adulterated and VAR taken hostage’

Barcelona President Joan Laporta has claimed that La Liga is not equal for all teams, telling Catalan media that Real Madrid are consistently favoured. Following a controversial win over Almeria for Los Blancos, Laporta says that this match is evidence of it.

The match saw three VAR interventions during the match where Real Madrid benefitted from overturned decisions on each occasion. The Referees Committee admit internally that two of these decisions were mistakes by the referee.

In an interview with MD, Laporta claimed it was evidence of

“In a very clear way that match at the Bernabeu was re-refereed by VAR and all the decisions that were made were contrary to those that the referee had made. And I believe that the VAR, which is an instrument that comes to help referees, is becoming, due to the misuse of it, a problem. And I say that and I don’t like to play the victim, but it is a commitment that we have to justice and sportsmanship.”

“It is a commitment that the club has when it comes to recognising the complicated job that referees have. For me, the role of referee is the most difficult in the world of football after scoring goals, if you ask me. Man, we are seeing that an instrument that was there to help them, the VAR, is not helping them and has been taken hostage, like an abuse victim based on pressure that our rival is exerting continuously and constantly, which is no longer punctual but consistent. These pressures have been taking place for a long time and are bearing fruit. Because the decisions are all favourable to this team.”

He was asked if he felt the scales of justice had been swayed in La Liga too.

“Man, with these results yes, because it’s not just this Sunday. We have been analysing the issue and there are already a series of points that our rival has achieved by benefiting from refereeing decisions. Now, I also have to say we are used to this, right? We have always fought against the elements, we know what they are. But this time they are being too obvious and that is the reason for our formal complaint to the Federation.”

The comments have not gone down well, and Cadena SER report that some of the referees would like to see the Federation take formal action against Laporta as a result.

The pressure Laporta is referring to is a consistent trend on Real Madrid TV of producing hit videos on referees ahead of matches with Real Madrid, claiming that they are favouring their rivals. As Real Madrid TV is broadcast by a private media company, and not officially part of Los Blancos, their ‘pressure’ is not sanctionable.