Barcelona president Joan Laporta takes aim at Real Madrid and Florentino Perez during inauguration speech | OneFootball

Over the last three years, institutional relations between Real Madrid and Barcelona have drastically soured, largely due to the Negreira case. Florentino Perez has been clear that he wants the Catalan club to be punished over the payments made to Jose Maria Enrique Negreira, former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), while Joan Laporta has denied any wrongdoing on several occasions.

As part of their complaints, Real Madrid sent a dossier to UEFA last month, in which they called for titles to be stripped from Barcelona. This action caused great frustration to those in Catalonia, especially given that Los Blancos are already standing against them as an injured party in the ongoing legal case, which is being investigated by the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

Now, Laporta has made his feelings clear towards Real Madrid with a subtle reference to both the club and Perez during his inauguration speech on Wednesday, as per MD.

“We want to continue being a club owned by the members and that forces us to be imaginative to fight against clubs that are commercial companies. Some are not, but they want to be. We feel strong to continue defending the club. There are some who do not rest, and in the face of attacks on Barça and our dignity, they will always find a strong president and board with a leadership aimed at defending the institution against everything and everyone. It is our commitment.“

Real Madrid determined to seek punishment for Barcelona

Neither Real Madrid as a club nor Perez himself are unlikely to be affected by Laporta’s comments. They remain steadfast in their plans to seek punishment for Barcelona over the Negreira case, although the likelihood is that they will be kept waiting for an outcome in the legal case for some time, given that no resolution is in sight.