Both on and off the field, it's a key moment for FC Barcelona. As the 2022-23 season moves towards its climax, Barça has been eliminated from Europe, but is in the box seat to win La Liga. Victory in this Sunday's Classic against Real Madrid would give a huge advantage to the blaugranes. Meanwhile, in the backrooms and in the media, the echoes of the Negreira case, involving the club in alleged massive payments in the past to a leading Spanish referee, do not cease. The sporting mixes with the non-sporting: Javier Tebas, president of the League, attacks Barça and demands the resignation of Joan Laporta, while the Barça president, far from looking the other way, calls him an anti-culer and of having a "phobia" of the club.
Be that as it may, and taking advantage of Sunday's Classic at the Camp Nou (9pm), the blaugrana president has spoken out again, with a powerful message through the club's social media, although they haven't released a version in English. In the message, Laporta tells fans that it's no coincidence that on-field and off-field are mixing: "The campaign we are going through is not by chance. It aims to destabilize the team, to control Barça, to keep it".
Missatge del president @JoanLaportaFCB abans del Clàssic: "Tenim una gran oportunitat per acostar-nos al nostre objectiu" pic.twitter.com/gL8pvZofsq
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona_cat) March 17, 2023
Joan Laporta asks the fans to focus on the Classic: "Come and cheer on the team more than ever"
Joan Laporta begins the statement by invoking the Barça fans at the Camp Nou: "This Sunday we have a great match. Come and support the team more than ever. We have a great opportunity to get closer to the objective of this season, which is to win the League". For this reason, the Barcelona president refers that "the first objective" in all of the off-field noise surrounding the club "is to destabilize the team" in order to - in the long term - get the club under control and, in fact, "keep" it.
Be that as it may, Laporta repeats in passing his assertions of FC Barcelona's impunity in the case - "there will be time and I want to explain to you who, why and how they are orchestrating this campaign". Be that as it may, he leaves the Negreira case in the background and asks the fans to concentrate on "cheering the team on to win the match" and refuses to pay attention to "other aspects that could divert the attention of our players from concentrating on the game to win it."
Joan Laporta: "We will not only defend ourselves, we will attack"
Barça currently has a nine-point lead in the table, with Real Madrid itself in second, and the rest way back. Thus, victory over the eternal rival will extend the advantage to 12 points as the season moves into its home stretch. If Barça were to win, and then rub it in by repeating the gesture when Real Madrid return to Camp Nou for the second leg of the Copa del Rey semi-final tie on April 5th, that would just about make the season a success. Despite being out of Europe and despite the noise.
In the last appearance of the president of the organization representing the Spanish clubs, Javier Tebas recommended to the Barça president to show "less victimism and more clarity about what happened".
Laporta remained silent on the case today and spoke of "avoiding distractions", but he was forceful and clear in a message that has both on-field and off-field ramifications: "We will not only defend ourselves, we will attack".
Main image: Joan Laporta, during the press conference to present the forensic report / Photo: EFE