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The future of Barcelona is once again in the hands of Joan Laporta.
The former club president is on the bench for another run after winning the Barcelona presidential election on Sunday, comfortably beating Victor Font and Toni Freixa in a vote by tens of thousands of club members. Laporta, who oversaw the great heights reached by the club during his previous 2003-2010 term, steps into the void left by Josep Bartomeu, the disgraced former president who resigned in October on a motion of no confidence. Carles Tusquets had been in charge in the meantime. Laporta will serve a six-year term when he takes the reins again.
Bartomeu was arrested last week for his alleged role in the infamous Barcagate scandal, which was the latest stain on the club’s reputation in recent times. Barcelona concluded their first trophy-free season in more than a decade with a humiliating 8-2 Champions League defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich in August, and Lionel Messi expressed his desire to leave the club for the summer after a dispute with Bartomeu over whether he was contractually allowed to go out for free or not.
Messi ended up staying, but his contract expires at the end of this season, and there has been no indication from the great Argentine as to what he will do. Laporta has insisted that he can convince Messi to buy and stay rather than leave the only club he has known as a professional. Messi was one of the club’s active players to vote in the elections.
For Barcelona to be able to pay Messi and other players of his ilk, or get close to him, he needs money, and that’s a problem considering that the club is reportedly in debt of $ 1.5 billion, and the effects of the pandemic exacerbate an already dire situation. Sorting out the club’s finances is another item that now tops Laporta’s to-do list.
“We had the same thing in 2003. We were losing, we had a huge debt and we had to pay too many expenses and the income was less than the income. The situation today is very similar and my formula for getting out of it is very simple. We need to control spending, restructure debt and work to generate new sources of income, “Laporta told the BBC before the elections.
EFE / Enric Fontcuberta / Sipa USA
Laporta hopes to bring back to the Camp Nou a kind of sporting success similar to what he did in his previous tenure, which included two Champions League titles, four La Liga crowns, three Spanish Super Cups, one Copa del Rey, one Super Cup. from UEFA. and a FIFA Club World Cup title.
Barring an unlikely second comeback against PSG in four years, Barcelona’s first sporting act with Laporta will be a knockout of the Champions League in the round of 16. Barça are 4-1 on aggregate heading into the first leg in Paris on Wednesday. years and a day since the club came back from a 4-0 disadvantage in the first leg and won 6-1 at the Camp Nou in a match that went down in history as La Remontada.
Barcelona, which completed a comeback last week to stun Sevilla and reach the Copa del Rey final, is looking for a more existential comeback with Laporta anyway, one in which their successes on the pitch outweigh the fight off the field that has had an impact. both in the baseline and in the results of the club.
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