Like a well-matched couple, Florentino Pérez and Joan Laporta have been holding hands for almost three years, giving a feeling of unity, fighting against all odds. They are united by the Super League and, despite having lost support along the way, they have stayed together. But, in intimacy, each one has a different vision of things and, although both row in the same direction, they do so in a very different way. This was evident yesterday, when the two leaders came out, in their own way, to evaluate the Super League ruling. An indisputable triumph but digested in a different way.
It was clear that in Madrid and Barcelona they were prepared for the European Court to rule in their favor. The reaction was immediate, just a few minutes after the conclusion of the reading of the sentence. After almost three years of fighting increasingly alone, the time had come to celebrate the long-awaited victory. This is how Florentino understood it, who declared himself the winner of the duel without making even half a concession to the other side. “Football will never again be a monopoly, the clubs will be masters of their destiny,” he forcefully proclaimed, reading a text in a video with an old flavor broadcast on Real Madrid TV. Laporta, on the other hand, with the club's television closed, had to resort to the networks to broadcast his video, which had a much more conciliatory tone. “An open and constructive dialogue must be established so that positive synergies are generated between all parties,” he claimed. It was clear that neither the form nor the substance had anything to do with it.
The staging was diametrically opposite. Florentino undisguisedly reading a text, standing still, flanked by the white European Cups, those of before and those of now, speaking like a general who has won a war. Laporta, on the other hand, comfortable and restless, with his innate ability to communicate, without needing to read too much and wanting to talk for hours.
The fund did not have much to do with it either and is a true reflection of the positions that both leaders have taken in recent months. “A historic opportunity is opening up to try to solve some of the serious problems that today compromise the viability of most clubs,” Laporta insisted on being constructive. “We see our desire to promote European competitions that attract fans from all over the world fully recognized” was Florentino's most disruptive speech.
These two ways of seeing things, of interpreting and acting in victory, are in line with their roadmap of recent months. In fact, in the case of Florentino Pérez, he has maintained a very clear and radical position against UEFA and FIFA since the clandestine birth of the Super League, on a night in April 2021. The white president does not hide that he wants to break with everything and start from scratch with him at the head, with Santiago Bernabéu always in his thoughts. “Almost 70 years ago, Real Madrid took a fundamental step with the creation of the European Cup and today it has the responsibility of giving European football the boost it so badly needs,” he recalled in his diatribe. “In the face of the pressures we have received for more than two years, law, reason and freedom prevail today,” he emphasized.
In the case of Joan Laporta the scenario has changed a little. The Blaugrana president has always blindly believed in the Super League project, either out of conviction or as a lifeline for Barça's economic situation, but his attitude is more open to the pact, to building bridges to solve the conflict. . As a result of the Negreira case, he also approached Aleksandr Ceferin, president of UEFA, with the Super League also on the table. “We do not intend to go against the national leagues, on the contrary, if we improve the European competition the leagues will be more balanced,” he considered.
Barça and Madrid confirmed that you can win in many ways.
