Barcelona President Joan Laporta says Real Madrid don’t win clean
Barcelona President, Joan Laporta says La Liga rivals Real Madrid do not deserve recent successes because they play very ‘dirty’ and enjoy Referee favours.
Joan Laporta has criticized Real Madrid’s recent achievements, accusing them of benefiting from referee favoritism.
Laporta’s comments come as Real Madrid increased their lead over Barcelona in both Champions League and La Liga titles this season.
Real Madrid’s victories bring their total to 36 La Liga titles and 15 Champions League trophies, surpassing Barcelona by nine and ten trophies in each competition, respectively.
Laporta dismissed Real Madrid’s success, attributing it to favorable referee decisions rather than merit. “Real Madrid? To win, not everything is worth it; they have played very dirty. Referee decisions always fall in their favour,” Laporta stated.
He specifically mentioned a controversial moment in El Clasico when a goal by Lamine Yamal was disallowed due to the lack of goal-line technology. Laporta criticized the use of VAR in that match and questioned the integrity of La Liga’s refereeing.
In other news, Laporta and his administration from his first tenure at Barcelona have been acquitted of criminal allegations related to the Negreira case.
WHY XAVI WAS SACKED
Speaking on on BarçaOne, Laporta explained the decision to sack Xavi and replace him with Hansi Flick.
He confirmed the reports that suggested that Xavi was fired because of his gloomy comment about the club’s finances and how it impacted their ability to compete. Laporta explained that after Xavi agreed to continue, he gave the impression that he trusted his team; however, his infamous press conference caused a rethink.
“Xavi told me that he trusted this team, but then some of his statements looked like he changed his speech,” Laporta said.
“It caused me to rethink… and I had the feeling that I had to do a change, also with the same feeling shared with the board.”
Speaking on hiring Flick, Laporta said, “I started thinking of Flick as Barça manager since I re-joined the club.
“He started studying the team right after Xavi’s announcement. All the reports we have on Flick were super positive. Deco and Bojan also had same feeling; Flick had to be our coach.”
