Barcelona president Joan Laporta has responded to allegations from Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, claiming the comments “reveal Madrid’s obsession with Barça” and accusing their rival of dragging out the ‘Negreira Case’ despite knowing “there’s nothing to it.”
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has finally responded to the strong criticism levied against the club by Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez regarding the governance in La Liga and the Negreira case, according to a report from Anas Ali in Madrid Universal.
During a visit to Andorra la Vella, Laporta addressed Pérez’s remarks, stating they were “out of line.” He accused Real Madrid of using the situation to distract from other matters.
Laporta directly defended Barcelona against the core of the allegations, claiming the club has “never bribed referees, and referees generally don’t favour Barça; they’ve always favoured Madrid.”
The Barcelona president pointed to specific examples from a recent match where he believed referees favored their rivals, saying:
“Just last week, Real Madrid scored two goals that, in my opinion, clearly involved Bellingham handling the ball, and in the other, Vinicius broke Inaki’s nose. Those two goals shouldn’t have stood, and Barça would be leading the league now.”
Laporta went on to accuse Real Madrid of having a “persecution complex” against Barcelona’s history of success:
“They have a persecution complex against the best period in Barça’s history. They didn’t like that Barça was the world’s leading team from 2004 to 2015, when Barça was dominant, and they’re trying to find excuses that lead nowhere.”
He finished by claiming Real Madrid suffers from ‘Barcelona-itis’ and is attempting to influence officials via their television channel.In a surprising turn, Laporta also defended La Liga president Javier Tebas, who has been a target of criticism from Real Madrid, calling him a “noble person.”