Laporta: "Relationship with Real Madrid? We Were Never Married for There to Be a Divorce!"

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has confirmed that the relationship between the Catalan club and Real Madrid is not at its best, though he noted that their last encounter was based on respect and agreement between the two parties.

In media statements, when asked if a "divorce" had occurred between Barcelona and Real Madrid, the president stated: "We were never married, so a divorce cannot happen. Relations are not good because they have involved themselves in the 'Negreira case' and are presenting irrelevant facts."

He added: "Keeping the case open must be of some interest to them. We don't like this; it's a tense situation. We are eternal rivals and we deal with that respectfully. I did not want to get into the topic of the match in Miami against Villarreal. From the first moment, we saw opposition from the Spanish Players' Association and other clubs. I don't believe the competition will be distorted."

It is worth noting that Real Madrid has called for an investigation into Barcelona regarding the "Negreira case," in which the club is accused of paying more than 1.3 million euros to José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the Referees' Technical Committee, between 2016 and 2018.