The controversy surrounding Barcelona’s Saturday afternoon visit to the Estadio Mestalla has sparked a chain of events that has led to a falling out between the Catalan club and LaLiga.
Although Barcelona’s relationship with the Spanish league’s governing body hasn’t been especially great since the days of Joan Laporta’s presidency, the ill feeling between the two parties has increased in the aftermath of that trip to Valencia.
Directors from both clubs criticised the refereeing of the match, with Valencia’s sporting director Suso Garcia Pitarch condemning some of the decisions and with Barcelona’s vice-president Jordi Mestre pointing out that the only team to suffer an injury was his own – that of Andres Iniesta.
Later on, Dani Parejo spoke out about the incident at the end of the match in which Neymar was struck by a bottle thrown by the Valencia fans, suggesting that the Brazilian had provoked them.
Feeling mistreated, Barcelona didn’t send any players to Monday evening’s LaLiga awards ceremony – which was held in Valencia – even though they had planned to.
Instead, president Josep Maria Bartomeu led a delegation of directors in attending the event.
Yet LaLiga president Javier Tebas’ interview with Sportyou reignited tensions, as he accused the Blaugrana players of provoking the throwing of the bottle and of then overreacting to it.
“Tebas should focus on protecting the players,” Jordi Mestre said of Tebas’ comments when asked at Tuesday night’s Supercopa de Catalunya match.
“He is an executive and should fulfil his role.
“Tebas should ensure there is no violence in the stadiums instead of attacking those who put on the show that allows him to sell LaLiga in China.”
The relationship between the two entities has certainly soured over the past few days and it remains to be seen if a positive relationship can be re- established.
In their assessment of the bottle-throwing incident, the Spanish FA’s Competition Committee criticised the behaviour of the Barcelona players, an observation which the Catalan club has since condemned.
The committee also fined Valencia 1,500 euros for the incident, while praising their security team’s identifying of the guilty individual.
“The aforementioned behaviour of some players from Barcelona was ridiculous and worthy of a sanction on its own,” a statement from the committee read.
“The reproachable behaviour of Barcelona players should not be overlooked, in particular certain gestures and expressions to the public during the celebration of the goal.
“Without any bottle hitting them, some players simulated or feigned having been hit by an object much heavier than a bottle that only hit one of them.”
Those comments provoked the damning response from the Catalan club, which expressed anger at the attempt to paint their players as the guilty party.
“Barcelona considers the comments made by the Spanish FA’s Competition Committee completely reprehensible and excessive in explaining their resolution for the events which occurred last Saturday,” their statement said.
“The committee is blaming the victims of the clearly condemnable behaviour that took multiple forms before, during and after the game and which included offensive language, criticism of the referee from Valencia personnel and the throwing of objects.”
As well as hitting out at what was included in the report, the club also pointed out that there were some facts missing.
“The committee fails to mention the hostile, and in some cases violent, atmosphere that led to aggression against Barcelona players, which can only be responded to by expressing indignation,” the Blaugrana stated.
Furthermore, the club expressed its expectation that the celebration of every goal from every team would now be subject to similar scrutiny.
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