When Laporta called Barça’s behavior “shameful, ridiculous and grotesque”

2023-04-21 00:28:50
23 years ago the Fútbol Club Barcelona was the protagonist of a notorious scandal. On April 24, 2000, the board of directors of the Catalan team decided that their first team would not play against Atlético de Madrid in the second leg of one of the Copa del Rey semifinals. The ABC headline drew with a direct and precise line what happened that Monday at the Camp Nou: “Barcelona completes the pantomime.” After losing 3-0 -goals from Hasselbaink, Baraja and Hugo Leal- in the first leg held on April 12 at the Vicente Calderón stadium, Barça concocted the aforementioned “pantomime” in the following days. In his book ‘366 stories of world football’, Alfredo Relaño refreshes the argument used by José Luis Núñez, then president of the blaugrana entity: «The week reserved for the return matches coincided with a week of national team matches, although friendly matches . That summer the European Championship in England was being played and the qualifying groups had already been closed. But Barça had many Dutchmen in their ranks: six. His own coach was Dutch, Van Gaal. In addition, he has a player injured and tries to force a difficult postponement of the match, which is denied him ». «The eves are controversial, because Barça insists that they only have ten players and the substitute goalkeeper. It is not entirely true, because Amunike is already cured and training with a medical discharge, although he has not reappeared yet. It is suggested that he obtain permission for the Dutch internationals to join a day later, as in other cases on the same day, but he says that Rijkaard, the Dutch coach, denies permission. It is recalled then that on April 28 of the previous year, on the occasion of the Barça Centenari match, Van Gaal had obtained permission from the Netherlands for all his players to be reduced from a friendly, and that now he could do the same . But there is no way. (The Centenari match, Barça-Brazil, was organized by Nike, a brand that had hired Barça, Van Gaal and several of his Dutchmen)». The staging of the grotesque begins on the eve, Sunday April 23, when Van Gaal gave his eleven available players a vacation until Wednesday… but warning everyone that they should be reachable. “Núñez clarified that Barcelona has met and will meet all the prerequisites required by the Federation for a match to take place: specifying the time of the match (nine o’clock at night), opening the stadium facilities and making its players appear (the eleven he owns). Immediately afterwards, the local team will say that they are not playing, so no seats are put up for sale either: ‘Barcelona does not give up, but they cannot play if they do not have players. We are willing not to play and give the tie for lost, but not to make a fool of ourselves’. He specified that his club has sent to the Royal House his position regarding the match and his concern that this competition be devalued. In an official note, Barcelona criticized “the fact that they are forced to play a Copa del Rey semifinal match despite not having the minimum number of players necessary to form a team, which means contempt for the competition.” Barcelona stressed that the Cup regulations do not allow more than three subsidiary players to line up in a match “in order to maintain a high level of competition and instead a team with ten is forced to play and without being able to make changes” .”. The list of officially available Barça players was made up of two goalkeepers –Hesp and Arnau-, three players with a record from the subsidiary –Puyol, Xavi and Gabri- and six from the first team: Abelardo, Dehu, Sergi, Guardiola, Dani and Simao. And, as announced, the brief and bizarre main scene arrived. Televised live -on pay per view (ppv)- for all of Spain. This is how ABC summarized the Time.news of the embarrassment: «A member of Barcelona, ​​​​he was very old, watched the show. He had a very low card number, with the insignia of his love club on his lapel and he didn’t say a word. Of course, he had a look of infinite sadness. He then commented that he had never seen anything like it despite the number of years that he had been coming to the Camp Nou. He approached the stadium because he believed that Núñez would back out at the last minute ». Global repercussion «It was pathetic, an incredible image, a role that is unbelievable, a pantomime taken to the extreme limits because even the Barcelona players, dressed as soccer players, came to jump on the edge of the pitch. The Catalans stayed on the sidelines of the field until the referee, Díaz Vega, called their captain, Guardiola. What would Pep think? A person as thorough and cerebral as he was performing that role, one of the saddest in his life. Guardiola explained the club’s position to the referee, reached midfield, spoke with Santi, the Atlético captain, and after a few minutes of chatting, opened his arms as if to say ‘what can I do?’, and left ordering to his players, the ten who had left plus Arnau who was on the bench, to retire to the changing rooms ». «The curious thing is that everything was prepared as if the game was going to be played. The kiosks with pipes, open, hot dogs, popcorn… The lights came on and the Red Cross volunteers were ready. Some members even entered, about a thousand, through the doors prepared for them. What’s more, half an hour before the match, in the locker room anteroom, a club employee hung up the blackboards with the line-ups of the two teams. Of traca. In Barcelona there were ten players and at the end number two with an empty name space. Below, Arnau as substitute goalkeeper. At Atlético all those called up, including Pilipauskas. In fact, even those responsible for anti-doping later entered the locker room. Can you believe it?… » The paripé of the arbitration draw in the cup semifinal: Santi says goodbye to Díaz Vega while Guardiola leaves. ABC «As time passed, the temperature rose in the stands. Five minutes after Barcelona left the field, Díaz Vega did. Six minutes later Atlético de Madrid did it while the public stood up and shouted ‘A Segunda, a Segunda!’ (At that time, Atlético was second to last in the League and at the end of it they ended up relegated)… Meanwhile, those responsible for everything, Núñez and Van Gaal, did not say this is my mouth. The president did not even appear in the box while the coach arrived, saw and left with his people. Now words will come, legal grounds, appeals, allegations, blah, blah, blah, but what no one will forget is Guardiola’s haggard face and the sad face of the Barça partner. It was a major scandal. Due to the fact itself -an appointment in which two of the biggest Spanish teams played for the pass to the final of the tournament that bears the name of the King (the 1999-2000 Cup champion was Spanish, who won 2- 1 against Atlético in Valencia) – and for the surprising and unfortunate images – photos and, above all, videos – that went around the world. Representatives of numerous clubs and football organizations criticized Barcelona’s plan. Jesús Gil, president of Atlético and, therefore, a witness and direct affected, declared: «It is the first time that a phenomenon as rare and abnormal as this has occurred. It is something that does serious damage to football. Vicente del Bosque, the Real Madrid coach, said that “Barcelona has lost class and ‘seny’. The Cup is not devalued with its performance, the only one that has been devalued has been the Catalan club. And Luis Aragonés, Real Oviedo coach, stated: «Núñez is the best president, but he has screwed up the championship. You can’t do that pantomime. It is wanting to throw away a tournament like the Cup, which is precious, and if not, tell Barcelona, ​​which is the one that has won it the most times ». Penalty… and pardon Only the members and supporters of the Catalans showed their support for the Catalan club’s decision. And it wasn’t even a unanimous defense. There was a lot of division among the Barcelona social mass. In fact, one of the most harshly critical voices was that of Joan Laporta, founder and then spokesperson for Elefant Blau (Blue Elephant), a platform in opposition to the board of directors of José Luis Núñez. Related News standard Yes The trunk of sports Juanito and the damn month of April Ángel Luis Menéndez «Ridiculous and grotesque. They have made us feel ashamed,” declared an indignant Laporta. Members have been despised for the attitude that until nine at night it was not known if they were playing or not. The sports planning by Mr. Núñez and the foreman, who is Mr. Van Gaal, has been exposed. It seems that we do not know how to lose. If it has not been played, it is because Núñez and Van Gaal did not want to, damaging the image of the club and it cannot be tolerated. That the club belongs to the member is a fallacy. The Spanish Football Federation was quick as few times to impose the corresponding punishment on Barça. And he did it with the utmost hardness. Three days later, on April 27, the Competition Committee ratified the defeat by default (3-0), the consequent elimination from the Cup, the highest fine contemplated in the regulations -two million pesetas (€12,000)- and the one-year suspension without being able to play the tournament. The most painful epigraph of the punishment, the prohibition to play the Copa del Rey 2000-01, was not carried out. It barely remained in force for three months. On July 14, Ángel María Villar, president of the Federation, announced in the annual Assembly the traditional measures of grace for all football (except in cases of aggression against referees and doping) on ​​the occasion of his fourth re-election to the position, achieved in February of that same year. So the following year Barça played the tournament, reached the semifinals again and was eliminated again (against Celta). Of course, this time he appeared in the first leg (3-1)… and in the second leg (1-1).
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