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  • Lionel Messi will return to Barcelona if president Joan Laporta is kicked out: Argentine celebrity’s brother’s weird rant

    Lionel Messi’s brother Matias on Wednesday courted controversy when he mentioned that the Argentinian celebrity will solely return to Barcelona if present membership president Joan Laporta is kicked out.

    “I have a SPORT cutting that says “Messi should return to Barcelona” and I’ve put beneath it “Hahaha”. We are usually not going again to Barcelona, and if we do, we’re going to have an excellent clearout, kicking-out, amongst others, Joan Laporta who’s ungrateful in any case that Messi did for Barcelona,” he could be heard saying in a now viral clip.

    “People (in Barcelona) did not support him. People should have gone out to do a march or something, let Laporta leave and Messi stay. The Spanish are traitors. I tell you because I want it to come out of our guts and not listen to things that are not true,” he added.

    🚨🚨💣| Leo Messi’s brother: “We are not going back to Barcelona & if we do, we are going to do a good cleaning. Among them, kick out Joan Laporta. People (in Barcelona) did not support him.” 🇦🇷😳 [via @AlbicelesteTalk]

    pic.twitter.com/mKsBU03j1n

    — PSG Report (@PSG_Report) February 8, 2023

    Messi needed to go away Barcelona as a free agent in 2021 to hitch Paris Saint Germain after spending twenty years on the Camp Nou. Laporta had promised that Barcelona would be capable of retain Messi however monetary state of affairs resulted within the celebrity leaving after a really emotional press convention.

    Matias additionally claimed within the clip that Messi was the one who had put Barcelona on the map and with out him the membership can be nothing.

    “(I think) Barcelona became known thanks to Messi. Nobody knew about them before. Whoever’s had the chance to go to Barcelona and see the museum, you can see that the museum is Messi,” he mentioned as quoted by Football Espana.

    Messi just lately starred with a purpose as Paris Saint Germain defeated twelfth positioned Toulouse and prolong their lead on prime of the Ligue One desk. Messi curled in an beautiful purpose into the underside nook from exterior the world within the 58th minute and put PSG 2-1 forward, serving to the hosts recuperate from a woeful begin the place they conceded first.

  • Barcelona’s Joan Laporta keep assist of Super League regardless of backlash

    Barcelona president Joan Laporta maintained his assist for the Super League on Thursday regardless of the short exit of 10 of the 12 founding golf equipment within the breakaway competitors.
    The Super League, which provoked a backlash by different golf equipment, followers and authorities round Europe, was introduced by a dozen high golf equipment in England, Spain and Italy on Sunday, nevertheless it shortly collapsed and is now formally backed solely by Barcelona and Real Madrid.
    “It is absolutely necessary,” Laporta mentioned on Catalan public tv in his first public feedback on the challenge.
    “The biggest clubs create the most financial resources and we must have our say in deciding how the earnings are shared.”
    The six English golf equipment concerned within the competitors pulled out Tuesday amid escalating backlash from their supporters and warnings from the British authorities.
    A day later, Spanish membership Atlético Madrid and the three Italian groups within the challenge — Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan — additionally opted out.
    Despite being left almost alone, Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez — the competitors’s supposed first chairman — mentioned late Wednesday that the thought was not lifeless, however relatively on standby.
    Both Juventus and AC Milan left open the potential for becoming a member of a Super League at a later date of their statements on Wednesday.
    Barcelona’s funds have been laborious hit by the pandemic, which has compounded issues in a funds that was already loaded by the best payroll in soccer final season. Laporta’s monetary challenges embrace making an attempt to persuade Lionel Messi to signal a brand new contract when his expires this 12 months.
    The 12 elite golf equipment wished to spice up their revenues by slicing UEFA out of the equation and changing the Champions League with the brand new event of 20 groups.
    “There have been pressures placed on some clubs, but the proposal is still standing,” Laporta mentioned.
    “We have very important investments, our salaries are very high, and those must be taken into consideration, along with sporting merits.”

    Barcelona’s participation was conditioned by Laporta’s pledge to let the membership’s members vote on the proposal.
    “We are keeping a prudent stance,” Laporta mentioned.
    “It is a necessity, but our club members will have the final word.”
    Laporta appeared open to tweaking essentially the most controversial a part of the challenge — locking within the 15 founding golf equipment and leaving solely 5 berths open for different groups to hitch every season.
    “It has to be an attractive competition, based on merit won on the field,” Laporta mentioned.
    “We defend our national leagues and an open dialogue with UEFA.”
    While Laporta spoke in Barcelona, the opposite Spanish league golf equipment not concerned within the Super League challenge met by way of videoconference with league president Javier Tebas to kind a standard entrance towards the brand new competitors. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atlético weren’t invited to the assembly.
    “I think that Barcelona has bigger problems than taking on the rest of the clubs in Spain and Europe to defend a Super League that is already dead,” Tebas mentioned.
    But Tebas saved his strongest criticism for Real Madrid’s president, credited because the mastermind of the challenge.
    “If they say that the Super League will save soccer, they are lying or they are mistaken,” Tebas mentioned.
    “Florentino Pérez is lying. It can’t help soccer because it would destroy the national leagues.”

  • Former Barcelona president Bartomeu detained by police in search operation

    Image Source : AP File picture of Josep Maria Bartomeu.
    Catalan police arrested 4 folks — together with former president Josep Maria Bartomeu — after raiding Barcelona’s stadium on Monday in a search and seizure operation, including to the membership’s turmoil lower than per week earlier than it holds presidential elections.
    The operation was associated to final yr’s “Barçagate,” by which membership officers had been accused of launching a smear marketing campaign in opposition to present and former gamers who had been essential of the membership and then-president Bartomeu.

    Police didn’t say who had been taken into custody however presidential candidate Joan Laporta confirmed Spanish media studies that Bartomeu was amongst these detained.
    “Facing what happened today with the raids at the club’s headquarters and the detentions of Barça’s ex-president Josep Maria Bartomeu and other executives of the club, our team want to express our utmost respect towards the actions conducted by the judiciary and police authorities as well as utmost respect towards the principle of presumption of innocence,” Laporta mentioned. “We are deeply saddened by these events that cause enormous harm to the image of our club.”
    Members of the police’s monetary crimes division performed the operation in 5 totally different areas, together with “some specific departments of the FC Barcelona offices.” They mentioned they had been investigating “alleged crimes related to property and socio-economic order.”
    Among these the Spanish media claimed had been detained had been membership CEO Óscar Grau and authorized division chief Román Gómez Ponti. Jaume Masferrer, Bartomeu’s former chief of workers, additionally was allegedly detained. They had been taken to a police station for interrogation, Spanish media mentioned, and police additionally went to Bartomeu’s home looking for proof.
    Authorities spent a number of hours on the group headquarters looking paperwork and speaking to staff.
    “We want to highlight the attitude and collaboration of the FC Barcelona in the records that have been made today and during the course of the investigation,” the police mentioned in an announcement. “The investigation, which has been going on for almost a year, is still ongoing.”
    The membership, mired in debt of greater than 1.1 billion euros ($1.3 billion), mentioned it provided “full collaboration to the legal and police authorities to help make clear facts which are subject to investigation.” It added the case was associated “to the contacting of monitoring providers on social networks.”
    “The information and documentation requested by the judicial police force relate strictly to the facts relative to this case. FC Barcelona (expresses) its utmost respect for the judicial process in place and for the principle of presumed innocence for the people affected within the remit of this investigation.”

    The membership didn’t point out Bartomeu. A textual content message despatched to Bartomeu was not instantly answered.
    Laporta, one of many three presidential candidates in elections on Sunday, advised Lleida Radio that what occurred on Monday “was a consequence of the bad management by the previous administration.” He mentioned the information of Bartomeu’s detention was “shocking” and “not good” for the club, but stressed that the former president deserved the “presumption of innocence.”
    Laporta was Barcelona’s president a decade in the past and, like Bartomeu, additionally confronted a no-confidence vote throughout his time in cost.
    Barcelona had denied accusations that it employed — and overpaid — an organization to make destructive feedback about its personal gamers and opponents on social media in an effort to enhance the picture of senior membership officers.
    The firm was accused of utilizing pretend social media accounts to discredit opposition figures after they expressed views that went in opposition to the membership. Some of the figures supposedly included gamers such Lionel Messi and Gerard Piqué, in addition to former coach Pep Guardiola.
    The membership later launched an unbiased audit report exhibiting that there was no wrongdoing.
    Bartomeu and his board of administrators resigned final yr amid fallout from the controversy surrounding Messi. The membership has been mired in political turmoil and debt prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.
    The membership has been managed by a caretaker board since Bartomeu left in October whereas dealing with a no-confidence movement supported by 1000’s of membership members livid on the group’s poor performances and the membership’s monetary scenario.
    The membership’s struggles started to floor after the group’s embarrassing 8-2 loss to Bayern Munich within the quarterfinals of the Champions League final season, which was the primary with out a title for the Spanish membership since 2007-08.
    Bartomeu was loudly criticized by Messi, particularly after the previous president denied the participant’s request to depart the membership on the finish of final season. Messi’s contract ends this season and the Argentine nice has but to say whether or not he’ll keep or go.
    Barcelona is 5 factors off the Spanish league lead. It misplaced at residence to Paris Saint-Germain 4-1 within the first leg of the spherical of 16 of the Champions League and was crushed by Sevilla 2-0 within the first leg of the Copa del Rey semifinals.

  • Barcelona reschedule presidential elections to March 7

    Barcelona rescheduled its presidential elections to March 7 and members shall be allowed to vote by mail amid the coronavirus pandemic, the membership mentioned.
    The elections had been initially scheduled for Jan. 24 however Barcelona was compelled to delay the vote due to mobility restrictions imposed by the Catalan authorities through the pandemic.
    Voting will happen at six polling stations and by mail after the Catalan authorities made a change within the laws “to allow for postal voting for sporting bodies,” Barcelona mentioned on Tuesday.
    Members who’re over 65 shall be allowed to vote from residence.
    Polling stations outdoors Catalonia, aside from Andorra, is not going to be used as initially deliberate due to the restrictions prompted by the pandemic.
    The membership reiterated that “the elections are affected by the exceptional circumstances brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and for that reason, they will be organized following at all times the recommendations of the health authorities in order to protect the health and safety of the voters.”
    “During this period the club will continue to work closely with the Catalan government and the health and local authorities to best organize the elections so that they can be carried out in the best conditions possible,” Barcelona mentioned.
    The three presidential candidates are Joan Laporta, Víctor Font, and Toni Freixa.
    Barcelona has been led by a caretaker board since former president Josep Bartomeu resigned in October. He confronted the potential of being ousted in a no-confidence movement supported by 1000’s of membership members livid on the crew”s poor performances and the membership”s monetary scenario.
    Barcelona misplaced to Bayern Munich 8-2 within the quarterfinals of the Champions League in August, and its hovering debt compelled the membership to virtually give away veterans like Luis Suárez to slash its wage burden. Lionel Messi later requested to depart the membership however had his request denied.
    Barcelona performs in opposition to second-division membership Rayo Vallecano within the spherical of 16 of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday. It trails Spanish league chief Atlético Madrid by 10 factors and is three factors behind second-place Real Madrid coming into the second half of the season.