Barcelona backed out of La Liga meeting because of Real Madrid president, says Tebas | OneFootball

Speaking to media (h/t Mundo Deportivo), La Liga president Javier Tebas has blamed Real Madrid president Florentino Perez for Barcelona’s decision to back out from La Liga assembly meeting in Dubai.

The Spanish top-flight had called for an ‘urgent’ assembly meeting for all clubs in Dubai. But Barcelona and Real Madrid released statements confirming that they will not be attending the event.

Tebas, though, has claimed that Barcelona were aware of the meeting since September and had responded in an affirmative about their attendance in the past. However, they seemed to have changed their stance suddenly, with the La Liga supremo suspecting the influence of Florentino Perez.

“This Assembly has been scheduled since 6 September and the budget for this Assembly in Dubai was approved at the Ordinary General Assembly, with a special section on ‘investment in Dubai’,” Tebas said.

“Barça was signed up with its treasurer Ferran Olivé and its director of football Mateu Alemany until three days ago. I think they got the call from who we all know. From Florentino, they have been lining up for days,” he added.

Tebas then delved into the Catalans’ financial issues and stated that the club will need to reduce their salary mass in order to sign players. He also clarified that he had not spoken to Barcelona president Joan Laporta to clarify matters regarding the Fair Play problems.

“We defend two different models of football. And the one they defend destroys the other. It is impossible to have agreements when the other is asking you to destroy your football,” he added, when talking about the Super League project of which Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus remain a part.