Real Madrid posted a video of four minutes highlighting Bacelona’s ties with former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco in apparent response to the comment made by Blaugrana President in a Monday press conference. Laporta had cited Real Madrid during a recent press conference to defend the Blaugrana in the midst of the referee payments scandal that has engulfed the club.
The video was aired by Real Madrid TV, and then shared on social media. It explores Barcelona’s connections to Franco using archive footage and text. Madrid claims that Barcelona gave him three medals and made him a honorary member of the club. They also claim that he enjoyed greater on-field successes during Franco’s fascist rule.
In describing the alleged favorable refereeing decision for Real Madrid the Barcelona president noted that Los Blancos is a “team of the regime”, which was often used to link Madrid with Franco during his reign from 1939 until 1975. “Barcelona gave the gold and diamond badges to Franco. In 1965, they made him honorary partner. Madrid replied that Franco .” saved Barcelona three times from bankruptcy by 3 reclassifications.
The legend Santiago Bernabeu of Real Madrid, after whom their stadium was named, was furious at the idea that Los Blancos would be Franco’s side. In recent weeks, the relationship between the two clubs has deteriorated after Madrid announced that they would testify against Barcelona as part of the investigation into Barcelona’s payment scandal. Laporta responded to this by cancelling the usual luncheon between the directors of the two clubs prior to every Clasico.
What happened after the alleged refereeing scandal between Barcelona and Real Madrid?
Joan Laporta, FC Barcelona’s president, took a jab at Real Madrid by claiming the bitter rivals were “historically”, “very favorably” in past decisions made by referees. Barca is under investigation for making payments to referees. Laporta gave a press briefing on Monday to answer questions and explain the Negreira case.
He gave a speech in a Madrid fan club where he said that the Blaugrana’s enemies “have nothing” against them, “because there is no proof”. Laporta said that “what they’ve done is magnify the situation” where one of those linked to the companies was an ex-referee, and former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees. Negreira had no capacity to change the results of any matches because he didn’t designate the officials.
Laporta then attacked Real Madrid, saying they were “a club who have historically been very favored in terms of refereeing”. He said: “It’s nonsense.” He insisted that we love Barca, and would not allow the sentiments of our beloved Barca to be tarnished ,”. Laporta was in the media Monday after La Liga President Javier Tebas suggested that Laporta resign if he couldn’t explain payments made to Negreira.
