The rivalry between Spanish soccer giants Barcelona and Real Madrid has never been short of animosity and there have been five instalments of El Clasico on the field this season after their Copa del Rey and Supercopa meetings in addition to the usual pair of games in La Liga. Then, late on Monday in Europe, Los Blancos posted a video of nearly five minutes in length via their Twitter account which followed Blaugrana president Joan Laporta speaking publicly about the club's bitter rivals from Madrid.
Catalan club supremo Laporta had railed against corruption charges that Barca are facing to the former chief of referees, but he also sniped at La Liga as well as Real themselves by claiming that Florentino Perez's club have historically been favored by game officials. What appears to have sparked Real's reaction via social media was Laporta bringing history into it and mentioning Los Merengues being considered as "the club of the regime" during the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco from 1939 until 1975.
"When I hear Real Madrid described as 'the team of the regime,' it makes me want to shit on the father of whoever says it," said ex-Real president Santiago Bernabeu de Yeste, dead since 1978 but very much alive in club history through the stadium which bears his name, at the end of the video.
To say that Perez and Real have not taken kindly to Laporta and Barca's words is an understatement and the fall-out continued into La Liga's extraordinary assembly on Wednesday to discuss the Negreira case. Laporta spoke heavily during the meeting.
"As a courtesy and out of respect for the professional clubs, the president provided the relevant explanations on this matter, and out of respect for the administration of justice, he stated that any clarifications and queries requested by LaLiga or the clubs after his explanations will be answered in court, where LaLiga has already presented."
We take a look at this messy episode and its potential impact.
— Real Madrid C.F. (@realmadrid) April 17, 2023
What is this about?
This all stems from the Barcelona Negreira scandal, where they stand accused of hiding payments to the company of a referee. In response Barca essentially accused Real, via Laporta's words, of receiving the same beneficial refereeing treatment that the Catalonia giants are alleged to have paid for but via historical political means. Basically, it is a bit like the pot calling the kettle black and Barca diverting attention away from themselves and onto Real just hours before their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal second leg away at Chelsea.
Why did Real Madrid go ballistic in response?
Real being accused of being the "team of the regime" is nothing new and it has spawned no shortage of bad blood over the years without even considering the political differences between Catalan and Madrid-based politics. However, few were prepared for Los Blancos to reel off an exhaustive list of examples of links between Barca and Franco which included Camp Nou's inauguration in 1957, Franco being awarded honorary Barca membership in 1965, Barca's three brushes with bankruptcy which Real suggested were avoided by Franco's land reassessments, newspaper clips of Barca players performing Nazi salutes and the fact that the Blaugrana won eight league and nine cup titles during Franco's dictatorship while Real needed 15 years to even win one league title. It was...a lot.
🤍
— Álvaro Arbeloa (@aarbeloa17) April 17, 2023
What does this mean?
Barca and Real's rivalry is stronger than ever and this has just doused it with petrol both in terms of what we can expect on the field moving forward but also away from the pitch. Not only is it part of the continued airing of laundry in public that La Liga has been going through of late, it could also have Super League ramifications given that the controversial breakaway competition was previously a rare piece of common ground between the two rivals.
How have people reacted?
Former Real players such as Marcelo, Alvaro Arbeloa and Iker Casillas have all voiced their approval and support of the message while Perez has received much support from fans and former players alike. However, in Catalonia, the video has not gone down well at all with the regional government calling for it to be taken down and citing the example of Barca's executed former president Josep Sunyol as evidence of "manipulation of history so crude that it seems textbook."
