Barcelona’s spot in La Liga should not be affected by any moves toward Catalan independence, according to Jaume Roures of Mediapro, current international rights holders for the Spanish league.
With present events having seriously placed minds on the possibility of Catalonia breaking away from Spain, the issue of where Catalan teams, including Barca’s fellow Primera Division peers Espanyol and Girona, would then play their football has been hotly debated.
Javier Tebas has said that these clubs would no longer be able to feature in the Spanish league should a new independent Catalan state be established.
However Catalonia-based Roures said on Monday that the “love-hate relationship” between Barca and Real Madrid was one of the major driving forces that made Spanish football second to none around the world.
“This is an issue for the government to resolve,” Roures said. “But like [Zinedine] Zidane I cannot conceive of the possibility of a Liga without Barcelona and Madrid, independently of what happens politically speaking.
“Barca and Madrid have a love-hate relationship. They need each other, they need La Liga and Spanish sports needs [their rivalry]. It would not be the same if there were no Clasicos, with the global repercussion of that game.”
Real Madrid coach Zidane said in September that as a football fan he found it difficult to envision a La Liga without the 24 times Primera Division champions Barca.
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