Barcelona - Again Laporta is the president

Barcelona’s previous president, Josep Maria Bartomeu, resigned at the end of October, and since then, the club’s head of economics, Carles Tusquets, has been running the club on a temporary basis. Bartomeu is accused of dishonest treatment and corruption, and was produced a week ago by Catalan police, who also conducted a house search at Nou Camp Stadium.

When the previous president left, seven more people thought they would compete for the position three months later, but eventually four left, including Laporta, who already ran the club between 2003 and 2010. During his first reign, Barcelona won the Champions League twice and won the trophy four times in the Spanish league.

The 58-year-old old-new president, according to the association, received more than 30,000 votes. Of the 109,531 eligible members, nearly 52,000 ran in the election, which has now been postponed from January due to the coronavirus epidemic. Several active Barca footballers, including six-time golden ball Lionel Messi, also took part in the vote. Laporta mentioned earlier that there is mutual respect between him and Messi, and if he were elected, he would definitely strive to keep the club’s icon on the band. Behind Laporta, Victor Font finished second with 29.99 per cent of the vote, while Toni Freixa came in third with 8.58 per cent of the vote.

In his post-voting speech, Laporta specifically addressed Messire, alluding to the fact that Argentine excellence was introduced to Barca’s youth team 20 years ago.

“When we see the best footballer in the world come and cast his vote, it clearly indicates what we can’t repeat: Leo loves Barca,” Laporta said, adding he hopes it indicates Messi wants to stay at the club. .

The association’s star tried to leave the Catalans last August after the team was eliminated from the Champions League with an 8-2 defeat to Bayern Munich. The 33-year-old player eventually remained, but his contract expires in less than four months.

Laporta also faces a difficult task from a financial point of view, Barcelona’s gross debt was more than € 1 billion last time, last year an agreement was reached with the players to reduce their salaries, but in December the club had to postpone the transfer of footballers ’salaries.

At the same time, things seem to be settling on the field, led by head coach Ronald Koeman, winning 13 of his last 16 championships, which also made it to the King’s Cup final, and he still has a chance, if small, in the top eight in the Champions League. In the last series, in the first match of the eighth final duel, Paris Saint-Germain won 4-1 as a Barcelona guest.

“We’re going to Paris to show off a big resurrection,” Laporta said, with his current election, the BL meeting on Wednesday at 9pm will be his first match as president.

(Source: Source: sportrajongo.hu, mti / Photo: pixabay)