Laporta hits out at rival in Barcelona presidential elections – ‘Destabilizing the club in the middle of the season’ | OneFootball

Speaking to Mundo Deportivo in an exclusive interview, Joan Laporta has hit out at Victor Font, his rival for the upcoming FC Barcelona presidential elections.

Earlier today, it was confirmed that the election will be a direct battle between Laporta and Font, with Marc Ciria getting disqualified for not getting the required number of signatures to run as a candidate.

With the voting set to take place in ten days on 15 March, Laporta took the opportunity to highlight the work done in his previous term, while also lashing out at Font, accusing him of basing his campaign on ‘lies’ and ‘destabilizing the club’ in the middle of the season.

What Laporta said

Alluding to Font and some of his accusations about Laporta’s campaign not having any plan and only empty words, the former president remarked:

“The other candidate has focused on talking about me, trying to lend credibility to those who wanted to undermine the electoral process, and resorting to inappropriate remarks aimed solely at discrediting me, our platform, and everything we’ve accomplished.

“It seems they simply don’t like what we’ve done. They may know what they need to do, but their proposals are stating the obvious, things we’ve already addressed through our Board of Directors and now our campaign.”

Not stopping there, he added: “They’re engaging in demagogic lies and constructing theories that simply don’t hold water.”

It is no secret that Font does not see eye to eye with Barcelona’s current sporting director Deco, and has, time and again, been critical of the former midfielder, while also questioning the team’s direction in recent times.

Laporta (R) has hit out at Victor Font (L). (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

This did not sit well with Laporta, who defended those in charge of running things at the club, while claiming that Font’s words were destabilizing the team.

“I am very proud of them all and very grateful to them, and I will not allow them to be attacked without reason, solely for the self-interest of a few who have excessive ambition and believe that anything goes to become president of Barça,” he said.

“It’s not acceptable. And above all, the executives, the staff, the employees—let them do their jobs. They are the true architects of this success, along with the players, Flick, Deco….”

Questioning Font’s intentions, Laporta elaborated: “This is another point we could analyze: Why does he have this obsession with attacking players at key moments of the season? Why is Deco being criticized? Why is Hansi Flick being criticized?

“Look, our sporting proposal is very clear. Let him explain his sporting proposal, and we’ll compare them.

“But destabilizing the club in the middle of the season is a mistake and shows a very low level of character on the part of the person making these criticisms. And clearly, I understand that he is discredited as president of Barça.”

On the complaint against him

Meanwhile, during the interview, Laporta also discussed the complaint that was filed against him by a Barça socio, Isidro Navarro, accusing him and the board of money laundering and irregular payments, among other things.

The National Court already dismissed the complaint against the ex-Barcelona president, who has now claimed that the member did not act individually and had someone backing him.

“Everything points to that, but the important thing is that it didn’t go anywhere and that this false accusation, full of falsehoods and lies, was consistent with what had been circulating in various newsrooms and offices,” he said.

“What was truly unfortunate was that the candidate who made it through the selection process immediately lent credibility to a newly formed partner who joined the party again to file a lawsuit in the middle of an election, a lawsuit whose sole purpose was to undermine it.”

“I was disappointed that this candidate so quickly gave credence to an action that clearly had the intention of disrupting the electoral process,” he added, pointing fingers at Font.