Barcelona president Joan Laporta says that the club’s relationship with Real Madrid “is completely broken” ahead of Sunday’s Spanish Super Cup final between the two sides in Saudi Arabia.
Laporta and opposite number Florentino Perez have traded insults throughout the current season, and the Barca president has added more fuel to the fire ahead of Sunday’s big game.
Florentino Perez called the Negreira case the “biggest scandal in football” before Christmas which saw Laporta hit back and accuse Real
Madrid of “spewing lies.”
Laporta now claims that the relationship between the two clubs is broken but says it can be repaired.
“Relations with Real Madrid are bad, they’re broken. There are several issues that have distanced us. If we were already fierce and eternal rivals, now a situation is developing that makes relations very poor,” he said, per Sport.
“This doesn’t mean there isn’t respect, which must be maintained in a civilized manner, but they are completely broken.
“Everything in football, as in life, can be resolved, but it depends on the will of the parties involved, and at the moment, a series of circumstances have led to a breakdown in relations.”
The two teams will renew hostilities on the pitch on Sunday with Barca aiming to successfully defend their title against their biggest rivals.
