File image of LaLiga president Javier Tebas. AP
'They spent planning this league for years, and in a span of 48 hours, it has dissolved like a lump of sugar. The Super League is gone. If it was so good for football, they wouldn’t have done it behind our backs,' LaLiga boss Javier Tebas said.
File image of LaLiga president Javier Tebas. AP
New Delhi: Real Madrid and Barcelona, Spanish heavyweights who remain the only LaLiga clubs to still be part of breakaway European Super League, will face no immediate repercussions, Spanish league president Javier Tebas said on Thursday.
Atletico Madrid, the other LaLiga club that was one of the founding members of the now-derailed venture, announced their withdrawal recently after all six Premier League clubs pulled out under intense pressure from fans.
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— Atlético de Madrid (@Atleti) April 21, 2021
Addressing a select gathering of journalists, Tebas, accompanied by presidents of Sevilla FC, Real Betis, Villarreal CF, Valencia CF, and Levante UD, said that Real and Barca have already suffered massive dents in their reputations and that their fans have already sanctioned them.
“Everyone wants to cut people's heads off. We have to have a procedure and we have to see how it looks in the end. The biggest sanctions have come from their fans. It’s a reputational sanction already. As for LaLiga, we are not thinking of any sanctions so far."
Tebas, however, said that LaLiga will look at legal protection against similar misadventures in the future, but when prodded on the nature of such safeguards, he said, “I can’t say more on what is going to happen.”
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, on 21 April, had backed the project, claiming that the league was “not doomed”, and only on standby.
Tebas, though, was not amused. “Well, they spent planning this league for years, and in a span of 48 hours, it has dissolved like a lump of sugar. The Super League is gone. If it was so good for football, they wouldn’t have done it behind our backs.”
“Wealth should be divided among all clubs. All of these clubs voted in favour of reforms in the Champions League at the European Club Association (ECA) meeting that took place on Friday. On Sunday, we got a press release about the formation of Super League.”
The LaLiga boss also backed the existing financial model of the league, adding that it serves best to all clubs and insisted on the need to cut costs. The financial controls that were implemented about seven years back, he said, have helped clubs in times of distress.
“When something has been working so well, why change it? We are committed to distributing wealth to everyone, and not just elite clubs,” the 58-year-old added.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta, too, was unwavering in his support for the Super League. Calling it “absolute necessary,” the recently-elected Barca president said, “The biggest clubs create the most financial resources and we must have our say in deciding how the earnings are shared.”
Barcelona are reportedly over 1100 million euros in debt, and they also owe about 266 million euros to banks that they ought to pay before 30 June. In January, Tebas had defended the Catalan club, claiming that he is not worried about their financial mess.
By Thursday, a lot had changed. “I think Barcelona have bigger problems to deal with than fighting Spanish clubs over Super League that’s already dead. I do think the Super League as we know it is dead. Without the German and English teams, it is dead. It would be like a bi-national project,” Tebas concluded.