Barcelona

Neither Perez nor Laporta are here to say anything, but to be seen offering joint support as Reichert claims the Super League is “not dead”, despite a European ...

Another anecdote has Rosell being insulted by Madrid fans near the Bernabeu’s VIP zone, and Perez arranging for those season-ticket holders involved to be moved permanently to another part of the stadium. Perez and Laporta also had cordial relations during their respective first terms, even as the tensions between fans, pundits and players intensified — for example, when Figo returned to Camp Nou as a Madrid player. [Manchester City](https://theathletic.com/football/team/manchester-city/) beat Real Madrid and Barcelona to top Deloitte’s Money League for the first time last year with a revenue of €644.9million in 2021 — up 17 per cent from 2020. [told The Athletic](https://theathletic.com/2424582/2021/03/08/they-are-looking-for-a-miracle-laporta-back-at-barcelona-and-what-it-means/) almost two years ago. Tebas’ mandate since his election in 2013 has been to protect the interests of smaller top-flight and second-tier clubs who historically felt pushed around by the big two. Barcelona instead did a similar standalone deal last summer, although with different financial details, with US financiers Sixth Street, which brought in €517million to fill holes in the club’s finances. At October’s club AGM he claimed the Super League would be “a more equal competition, an open league, based on meritocracy and respecting the state leagues” and predicted the European courts would decide UEFA is a monopoly which must be broken up. The Athletic was told the political situation meant no other European clubs would even play them in a friendly last summer. Figo’s betrayal caused anguish in Barcelona — symbolised by the pig’s head (and coins and golf balls) being thrown at the Portugal winger when he went back to Barca’s Camp Nou stadium as a Madrid player. But events have driven them together, and these two historic rivals have become intertwined in a new love story which has huge consequences for the future of Spanish and European football. The same idea was wrapped up in Barca’s ‘Mes que un club’ — More than a club — motto. Both sides seemed to revel in their differences — the liberal Catalan freedom fighters against Madrid’s protectors of conservative Spanish values.