Joan Laporta appeared in front of the microphones this morning Radio Catalonia the day after Accused of bribery by judge in Negreira case A few days before the Committees Meeting on Saturday. Barcelona president downplays significance of decision Joaquin Aguirre – “I think there is no other way to go” – he was unhappy with his position – “it is quite strange for an investigating judge to devote himself to characterizing the facts” – and accused him of promoting what he called “sociological Madrid” and trying to “take advantage” of the arbitration scandal
“There is a very strong sociological Madridism in the political center of the capital and this barça We encounter this all the time. And this sociological Madrid suffered a lot in my first phase as president when we won everything, and now it is afraid of it happening again. And it turns out that the best Barça in history now has the same president. Don’t you forgive me? I do not care. I’m interested in Barça and having a great season again. The more I fight to defend Barça, the more I love it. There are significant challenges ahead. And so is competing against this sociological Madrid. “We are already used to dealing with this,” he said.
And he continued with these lines: “There is a sociological Madridism in certain media, among some politicians, among those with power in sports… They were from Madrid or from Madrid. We need to accept this and as a culé we need to fight it. Because they are afraid of a dominant and very popular Barça, like in my first stage. This sociological Madrid took the Negreira case as an opportunity, and even came forward, trying to tarnish Barça’s name and our history, we cannot allow this. Moreover, if they can harm Barça, which is one of the factors that make Catalonia different, they are in a good position.”
peace picture
As for the legal part, Laporta tried to project an image of tranquility. “I was waiting for this order because I know the judge’s background. It has no basis,” he said. Judge Joaquín Aguirre had decided this Wednesday to indict the current president of FC Barcelona for the Negreira case, in which the Barça side paid 7.3 million euros to the former vice president of the Referee Technical Committee, José María Enríquez Negreira. , and his son were investigated for 18 years. The man attributes to him the same crimes attributed to former presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu and two former managers of the club. So one ongoing crime of bribery and, alternatively, corruption in sports, another of unfair management and forgery of business documents.
“All Barcelona fans can be sure. This case, like most of the judge’s cases, will be archived. We are at a stage where two hypotheses have been published: first, we were making some payments for some reports at Barça. Maybe it comes from Nuñez, from Gaspart, of course. It is important in the sporting progress of the club It was a practice that became widespread because we thought it could happen. In my time, payments were made via bank transfer, and beyond that. These were audited payments. We prove some services in 629 reports corresponding to only 3 years. Imagine 18 years, or even more. The other published hypothesis is that these payments “Buy referees, fix the matches and that Barça has an interest… They will never be able to prove this because it is not true. Therefore, I have to trust that it will result in an acquittal. So from a technical point of view, we are calm,” he stated.
World Cup Semi-Final
In this interview about “sociological Madridism”, Laporta touched upon this new term he coined once again and promised that it would add a fortune to the Barcelona dictionary when mentioning Camp Nou as the venue for the World Cup. “We also wanted to host it. Of course, it will host a semi-final. The final? The powerhouse of the capital is Real Madrid,” he said.
Laporta stated that the relationship with Florentino Pérez “is normal, there is institutional respect.” Will he come to Barcelona for the upcoming classic? We’ll see. You have the right to do whatever you want. I would like you to come. “Barça-Madrid is the best show in the world and the fact that both clubs are represented by their senior leaders gives the match a boost.”
He didn’t seem too keen on taking a joint photo with Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, as Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu had expressly requested.