Ex-Barcelona president accuses Real Madrid of ‘diving’ for penalties – ‘Learned how to swim’ | OneFootball

The refereeing in La Liga this season has been very questionable, especially given the inconsistencies in decisions across games and officials.

Several of the referees’ calls have been unclear and inexplicable over the year, with even the refereeing committee admitting to many mistakes in their periodic reviews.

Real Madrid, while discussed of as a party benefited by regular penalty calls, have also suffered their fair share of issues with officials including biased red cards, offsides and disallowed goals.

Laporta calls out the referees, points fingers at Real Madrid

Speaking to the media in a recent interview, former Barcelona president Joan Laporta spoke highly critically of referees and took a dig at Real Madrid, accusing them of being favoured by officials.

“There are certain referees who, every time they’re in charge of our games, they f*ck us,” he began.

“It happens constantly. This is the reality. It’s a scandal,” he added.

Laporta insinuates that Real Madrid enjoy favourable treatment from referees. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

He accused the referees of not being able to ‘handle’ Barcelona’s success and indirectly hinted that decisions were taken against the Catalans as it was the only way to ‘stop’ them.

“Certain people can’t handle us as a club and what we represent, and this is the only way they found to stop us, because they can’t stop us on the pitch.”

Referring to Real Madrid, he spoke on how Los Blancos are blatantly favoured and helped by the referees irrespective of the game situation, saying,

“When we’re going through a rough patch, they try to finish us, and when ‘the others’ are going through a rough patch, they help them.”

Laporta also went on to accuse Real Madrid’s players of ‘diving’ to win penalties game after game.

“These others, they learned how to swim, they dive into the pool beautifully,” he said.

Source: Mundo Deportivo