Barcelona president Joan Laporta has responded to some recent inflammatory comments made from Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez.
Perez criticised the level of refereeing in Spain and also brought up the Negreira Case yet again in his speech at the Assembly of Representative Members last weekend.
Laporta has now responded and made his feelings about Los Blancos crystal clear.
“Now that I remember the statements made at the Madrid Assembly, which I haven’t had a chance to comment on, and now that I’m in Andorra I’ll address them. I think they’re out of line; they reveal Madrid ‘s obsession with Barça.
“It seems they have to talk about Barça to justify who knows what. They’re constantly involved in the legal proceedings of the ‘Negreira Case,’ which they’re dragging out like chewing gum because they know there’s nothing to it, but it’s a way of justifying something that isn’t true: Barça has never bribed referees,and referees generally don’t favor Barça ; they’ve always favored Madrid.
“Just last week, Real Madrid scored two goals that, in my opinion, clearly involved Bellingham handling the ball, and in the other, Vinicius broke Iñaki’s nose. Those two goals shouldn’t have stood, and Barça would be leading the league now.”
Indeed Laporta thinks that Perez and Madrid are obsessed with his club and have a serious case of ‘Barcelona-itis.’
“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.
“We were the team that played the best football, recognized, admired, and esteemed for what we gave, recognized for what we did, and admired for how we did it. We won many titles, and Barça’s style of play was admired all over the world, so don’t make excuses,”
“If they’re caught up in this ‘Barcelona-itis,’ I’m delighted, because these are usually times when Barça is successful and triumphant. Real Madrid’s television channel is trying to influence referees every week.”
