Joan Laporta is aware that Hansi Flick's team has to perform very well to overcome the refereeing treatment they receive. The president is the first to think so.
He is convinced that the referees favor Real Madrid and harm Barça. He didn't remain silent after the penalty on Koundé wasn't called in Getafe.
At those moments, Laporta misses the media support that protects Florentino's Real Madrid. From Real Madrid TV to national sports newspapers, including radio stations and TV channels.
Real Madrid: 10 penalties in favor, 0 against
As Laporta doesn't have that media apparatus at his disposal to defend his interests, he denounces it himself: "It was a scandal, a disgrace."
Laporta, like a good part of Barcelona fans, is outraged by the penalty statistics this season. 10 penalties in favor and 0 against for Real Madrid.
And 4 penalties in favor and 3 against for FC Barcelona. The data is striking because Barça is the team that enters the LaLiga area the most. And this is demonstrated by the 9 goals scored that separate them from the second highest-scoring team.
Real Madrid doesn't need to enter the area as much or score as many goals as Barça to be awarded 6 more penalties in favor. And none against.
But what bothers Joan Laporta the most is that the data isn't new and has been ongoing. It repeats year after year while Barça has to endure the Negreira narrative to cover up others' shortcomings.
39 to 20 in favor of Real Madrid
The blaugrana president has received a concerning statistic. In the last four years, since 2021, Real Madrid isn't only the most favored team with penalties in Spain. It is also the penalty king in Europe.
Only Italian Napoli follows closely. They have been awarded the same number of penalties as Real Madrid: 39.
The list shows Inter Milan as the bronze medalist, with 37 penalties in favor. And far behind, much further back, appears Barça, which has been awarded 20 penalties in favor in four years.
That is, almost 10 penalties in favor per season for Real Madrid. Half for Barcelona, 5 per year.