Joan Laporta claims Barcelona–Real Madrid relationship has completely 'broken down'

Tonight, the King Abdullah Sports City will host a fiery El Clasico between Spain’s 2 greatest clubs, Barcelona and Real Madrid, to determine the winner of this year’s Spanish Super Cup. 

At this same venue last year, the Catalan giants secured a dominant 5-2 victory over their eternal rivals. Although Real Madrid has adopted a more positive style under new manager Xabi Alonso, even defeating Barcelona in the first La Liga meeting this season, President Joan Laporta remains confident. He believes Barcelona possesses everything necessary to successfully defend their crown.

"We are looking forward to winning this title, the first we can win of the season. Whenever we have won the Super Cup, we usually win more titles," Laporta stated. He emphasized that while a final has no clear favorites, his team's spirit is superior.

Statistically, Barcelona is in peak form. After a difficult start to the season, Hansi Flick has found a winning formula. The "Blaugrana" have won 9 consecutive matches in all competitions, keeping 5 clean sheets in that period. 

Their latest achievement was a crushing 5-0 victory over Athletic Bilbao to secure their place in the final. 

On the other hand, Real Madrid has also stabilized following recent internal turmoil at the Santiago Bernabeu. Despite reported dressing room tensions between star forward Vinicius Junior and coach Alonso, "Los Blancos" have managed to win 5 matches in a row.

However, the spotlight remains on the hostile relationship behind the scenes. In recent months, Real Madrid and President Florentino Perez have shown a firm determination to pursue the "Negreira case," an investigation into alleged referee bribery by Barcelona. 

Real Madrid has even taken legal steps to demand compensation for court costs and damages, claiming the scandal harmed their sporting integrity.

While the courts have not yet reached a final verdict, Laporta is clearly outraged. He recently confirmed that the institutional bond between the two clubs is officially dead. 

"Relations with Real Madrid are bad, they are broken. There are different issues that have distanced us," Laporta admitted. “I have maximum respect and cordiality for him. I don’t know if Florentino has come, he has not come to the Federation’s event, but he is free to do what he wants. We have maximum respect for the rival and his representatives. We have always acted with institutional harmony.”

The Negreira scandal involves allegations that Barcelona paid approximately 8.4 million Euros to companies linked to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees, between 2001 and 2018. 

While Barcelona maintains these payments were for "technical reports" on referees and youth players, the ongoing investigation continues to cast a long shadow over Spanish football.