Last week, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez let loose and went all out in his criticism of the governance in La Liga. He even fired shots at the referees as well as rivals Barcelona.

In what was a sign of gloves coming off between Barcelona and Real Madrid, Perez openly spoke about the Negreira case.

After days of silence, it appears Barcelona president Joan Laporta has finally had the chance to react to Perez’s comments.

Laporta responds to Perez’s comments

During a visit to Andorra la Vella, Laporta talked about Perez’s comments, stating (h/t Mundo Deportivo),

“I think they’re out of line; they reveal Madrid’s obsession with Barça. It seems they have to talk about Barça to justify who knows what.“

“They’re constantly involved in the legal proceedings of the ‘Negreira Case,’ which they’re dragging out like chewing gum because they know there’s nothing to it,” he added.

Laporta went on to clarify that Barcelona never actually bribed referees or was involved in the Negreira scandal.

“Barça have never bribed referees, and referees generally don’t favour Barça; they’ve always favoured Madrid,” he said.

The Barcelona president even offered some examples of referees supposedly favouring Real Madrid over Barcelona.

“Just last week, Real Madrid scored two goals that, in my opinion, clearly involved Bellingham handling the ball, and in the other, Vinicius broke Inaki’s nose. Those two goals shouldn’t have stood, and Barça would be leading the league now,” he said.

Laporta also stated that Perez’s comments and Real Madrid’s accusations will not tarnish the best moments of Barcelona’s history.

“They have a persecution complex against the best period in Barça’s history. They didn’t like that Barça was the world’s leading team from 2004 to 2015, when Barça was dominant, and they’re trying to find excuses that lead nowhere,” he said.

“We were the team that played the best football, esteemed for what we gave, recognised for what we did, and admired for how we did it. We won many titles, and Barça’s style of play was admired all over the world, so don’t make excuses,” he added.

Laporta went on to claim that Real Madrid have ‘Barcelona-itis’, accusing the team of being obsessed with the Catalan club.

“If they’re caught up in this ‘Barcelona-itis,’ I’m delighted, because these are usually times when Barça is successful and triumphant. Real Madrid’s television channel is trying to influence referees every week,” he said.

The most important part of Laporta’s statements, though, came at the end when he surprisingly defended Javier Tebas, even calling him a ‘noble person’.

“After the statements made at the Assembly, attacking the president of LaLiga, it makes me think the worst. I’ve had my ups and downs with Javier Tebas; he’s a noble person who is very passionate about his position,” he said about the La Liga president.

“We have a normal relationship, not a privileged one, which we don’t seek. We have a normal relationship, and Real Madrid has a confrontational relationship with LaLiga, and they’re obsessed with getting rid of him.

“They’ll want to put someone in his place, but I don’t trust that strategy. Tebas does everything he can for what’s best for LaLiga , so it makes me suspect that, driven by Real Madrid , they’re trying to remove him to put… who?” he concluded.