Barcelona issued a statement this Thursday on the Super League. The Catalan side said that they joined the competition because they think "there is a need for structural reforms to guarantee the financial sustainability and feasibility of world football."
Barcelona have broken their silence on the European Super League nearly 48 hours after it collapsed.
Barcelona said that "the view of most major European football clubs, and even more so given the current socio-economic climate, that there is a need for structural reforms to guarantee the financial sustainability and feasibility of world football",
The club believes the ESL improves "the product that is offered to fans around the world and by consolidating and even increasing the fan base on which this sport is sustained."
That is why the "FC Barcelona Board of Directors accepted, as a matter of immediate urgency, the offer to form part, as the founding member, of the Super League, a competition designed to improve the quality and attractiveness of the product offered to the football fans and, at the same time, and as one of FC Barcelona's most inalienable principles, seek new formulas for solidarity with the football family as a whole."
The La Liga outfit justify their decision saying that they made it "in the conviction that it would have been a historical error to turn down the opportunity to be part of this project as one of its founding members. As one of the world's top sports club, our intention shall always be to be at the forefront, this being an indispensable part of the club's identity and its sporting, social and institutional spirit."
In any case, the club said their 'socios' must have the final say: "FC Barcelona, as a club that always has been and always shall be owned by each and every one of its members, expressly reserved the right to submit such an important decision to the final approval of its competent social bodies following careful and very necessary study of the proposal."
Following the withdrawal of all of the founding members apart from Real Madrid and themselves, Barcelona believe "a much more in-depth analysis is required into the reasons that have caused this reaction in order to reconsider, if necessary, and to the required extent, the proposal as originally formulated and resolve all those issues, always for the good of the general interest of the football world."
The club also made reference to the court order imposed by a Madrid court preventing UEFA from taking action against the league or the clubs. "It would be improper for the necessary process of reflection and debate to be established under criteria of unjustified pressure and intimidation."
Lastly, Barcelona "shall act at all times with due prudence and asks for the utmost understanding, respect and most of all patience among FC Barcelona supporters and public opinion in general."