REAL MADRID
What did FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta say about Real Madrid in the Negreira press conference?
The President of the Catalan club spoke to the football media about the case that has dominated the headlines over the past months.
FC Barcelona President Joan Laporta stood in front of the laptops and cameras of the world’s media and spoke openly and in his typically brash way about the Negreira case, a scandal that has unfolded over the past weeks and months in which the Catalan club paid José María Enríquez Negreira, once the vice-President of the Spanish Referee Committee, over a period of 17 years.
Since the explosion of this story in the news, Joan Laporta has sternly defended his club, denying them of any wrongdoing and saying that a campaign has been launched against the team. In his speech and subsequent answers to the press, Laporta decided again to go on the offensive, attacking Barça’s oldest rivals, Real Madrid, a club had he said were “historically highly favoured in refereeing over the years” just a day before the press conference.
Laporta says Madrid ‘have always been considered as a team of the regime’
“I’d also like to single out Real Madrid”, Laporta said, as fingers pressed against laptop keys like jaguars ready to pounce on unsuspecting capybara, “a club who have made their position clear in this manner,... always considered as the team of the regime and are always linked with refereeing favouritism.”
“I would like to comment on the appearance of a club that have presented themselves in the cause and say that they feel damaged on a sporting level. A club, Real Madrid, that has been historically favoured when it comes to refereeing decisions. Historically and currently. A club that has always been considered as a team of the regime due to their proximity to power. I think it is worth remembering that, for six decades, most of the presidents of the collective were, in consecutive terms, ex-socios, ex-players or ex-directors of Real Madrid.”
“For 70 years, those who have chosen the people to make the decisions have been ex-socios, ex-players and ex-directors. And sometimes all of them at once. The fact that this club presents itself and alleges to feel damaged in the greatest part of history seems to me like the biggest act of cynicism ever and I am confident that they can be unmasked.”
Laporta says Florentino was under pressure to act
“I want to believe that Florentino [Pérez] was under a lot of pressure, but I think the club should have held on and waited for the right moment or, since there is nothing, not done anything. I know he was under pressure from the people and I can understand it but not accept it or give my opinion. I don’t think it’s right that they got involved and this has been spoken about.
Laporta said that the institutional relationship between the two clubs has been damaged since the news broke that Madrid were to get involved with the case and declare themselves victims. “The relationship is damaged”, he said, “we have kept a cordial institutional relationship with all clubs, Madrid included. It is the best show in the world, El Clásico, and there is a top rivalrly. For me there is an institutional relationship that has been damaged and hurt. I think that it is an improper exercise from a club like Madrid. In any case, the ones that have been belligerent were the ones with the institutional declaration. I prefer not to give my opinion.”
