The elections for the presidency of FC Barcelona on March 15 produced a resounding victory for Joan Laporta, who was running for reelection after five years in office, at the start of his second term at the helm of the club (before, he had been the Catalan club's top official between 2003 and 2010).

The lawyer and former politician crushed his rival, Victor Font, and will officially become Barcelona's president again before July 1. For this reason, Laporta has been recently appearing on almost all media outlets to analyze his recent election win, and, in the latest, he took the opportunity to lash out against Real Madrid using refereeing as an excuse, despite the controversy of having been the executive who increased payments to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former president of the Referees Technical Committee.

"I have always had the feeling that we must be much superior, because referees do not favor us. Here, it seems they always help Madrid. They have 'barcelonitis'; it is obvious. Now they criticize us for hiring someone who had been vice president, while they have had refereeing committee presidents linked to Madrid," Laporta told El Pais.

The executive has not, however, referred to the 'Negreira case,' which has turned Barcelona's reputation upside down, even more so since its last golden era coincided with the former referee serving as the CTA's 'number two,' a position he held between 1993 and 2018. The Catalan club paid 8.4 million euros to Negreira, Victoriano Sanchez Arminio's right-hand man, between 2001 and 2018.

Laporta's accusations against Madrid are serious. Any person can have the preferences they deem appropriate, even when holding a high-responsibility position, whether in politics or sports, but a different matter is using one's position to help a specific organization.

That is what happened with Negreira and Barca for at least 17 years. And the information was disseminated by Cadena SER in Catalonia, later expanded upon, especially by 'El Mundo.' The payments from the blue-and-red club to the vice president of the referees are more than clear, although so far, Barcelona has been unable to justify those services. When Madrid was investigated in this matter, no irregularities were found. That is the 'small' difference that escapes Laporta.

In the interview he gave to El País, a newspaper that is part of the Prisa Group, like SER, Laporta addressed the institutional relationship he maintains with Madrid and, mainly, with his counterpart, Florentino Perez, after Madrid intensified its legal fight over the 'Negreira case.' "We haven't spoken for quite a while. Since his appearance in the 'Negreira case,' the relationship has deteriorated," said the Barcelona president. Madrid was the only team in the league to join the legal case investigating the most serious corruption case in our sport, specifically in soccer.

"We decided to leave the Super League due to a lack of purpose: it was not materializing, and we had already told them. Also, UEFA was taking measures to improve the sustainability of soccer in Europe," Laporta added.

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