The Barcelona president’s remarks come after the club’s 1-0 defeat against Cadiz at the Camp Nou on Monday night and after Real Madrid’s 3-2 come-from-behind win away at Sevilla one day earlier.
Holy Thursday was a disappointment for Barcelona
Joan Laporta has stressed that Barcelona will not give up on the LaLiga title race until Real Madrid mathematically clinch the trophy. The Barcelona president’s remarks come after the club’s 1-0 defeat against Cadiz at the Camp Nou on Monday night and after Real Madrid’s 3-2 come-from-behind win away at Sevilla one day earlier. “This Holy Week has been like the Passion of Jesus Christ,” Laporta said during a press conference on Tuesday. “Holy Thursday was a disappointment, and we ended Easter Monday with another. We have to recover and strengthen. After yesterday’s setback, I’m not throwing in the towel. In football, anything can happen. I would have liked to speak today after beating Cadiz and talk about things I wanted, but if I did, it would seem that I am going to be a victim.”
According to Laporta, Barca now are at a standstill
Laporta went on to express his unease with some recent refereeing decisions. “It is not the day to talk about this, but there are situations that don’t look fine to us at Barcelona,” he said. “I hope that there will be absolute objectivity and that there will not be very obvious situations that cannot occur because they distort the competition.” The Barcelona president also discussed the team’s form in 2022 and explained what happened against Eintracht Frankfurt. “We were improving, and now we are at a standstill,” noted Laporta. “In this final stretch of the league season, we were doing well. We got a good result at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, and now we’re struggling to win. It’s obvious. We didn’t play a good game in the first leg against Eintracht, and in the second leg, we lost. Against Levante, we also struggled.”
“Xavi Hernandez is analysing what happened and looking for solutions. But we also have to consider that injuries are not helping us. A player like Pedri, a starter and a standout player, has been injured.” Laporta labelled Barcelona’s last few games as finals as they look to secure a top-four spot in LaLiga and clinch qualification for next season’s Champions League group stage. “The situation is different from what we expected, me first,” declared Laporta. “But while there is life, there is hope. Mathematically, it is possible. We have to fight in the seven upcoming finals to try to get the best possible final result and we mustn’t throw in the towel, but it will be difficult to win the league. We have to be aware that we have seven finals, and we have to win them to be in the Champions League.”