April 18, (THEWILL) – Real Madrid has fired back at Barcelona President, Joan Laporta, over accusations that they were “the club of the regime” during the reign of dictator Francisco Franco, in Spain from 1939 to 1975 with a video of their own.
The video posed the question “Which is the team of the regime?” and delved into Barça’s connections and successes during that period. Laporta’s comments came during a press conference in which he attempted to explain the club’s involvement in the Negreira case, where they have been charged with “continuous sporting corruption.”
Real Madrid highlighted that they endured a 15-year title drought, while Barcelona won La Liga eight times and the old Copa del Generalisimo (now the Copa del Rey) on nine occasions. Real Madrid legend, Santiago Bernabeu, whom their stadium is named after, was also famously opposed to the notion that Los Blancos were Franco’s team.
In contrast, Barcelona’s Camp Nou was opened by the dictator’s general minister. The video also accuses Barcelona of making Franco an honorary club member and presenting him with awards on three occasions.
At the press conference, Laporta said: “[Real Madrid] claim to feel aggravated in sporting terms by this. This comes from a club, as we all know, that has been favoured from refereeing back in history and still nowadays. A club that was regarded as ‘the club of the regime’ back in the days. Why was that? Because of how close they were to the political, economical and sportive power.
“It might have to be remembered that during seven decades, the majority of presidents and officials from the refereeing committee were former Real Madrid partners, former Real Madrid footballers, or former Real Madrid executives. During 70 years, the people in charge, to make decisions in that regard, were from Real Madrid.”
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
