"Bartomeu didn't deserve this ending, it was a disgrace and a lynching"

After revealing how Mbappe, Neymar and Haaland's moves to Barcelona failed to come off, Javier Bordas, a former Barca board member, talked to 'Mundo Deportivo' about Josep Maria Bartomeu. 

He began speaking about his own departure from the Camp Nou: "Part of me feels free, I'm sad how it's ended. After ten marvellous years, the best in Barcelona's history, we leave in a pandemic and in a bad way and I don't think it's fair. We are in a difficult end of a cycle, we had had the best team in history. A team winning for 10 years has never happened before. More things could have always been won, but we were always the favourites. But football is like that, sometimes you don't win when you deserve it and vice versa."

They've been marvellous years, we've won in football which is the most important, but also in all sports. We've won all the titles, we're the best club in the world, the one with the biggest turnover and with the most followers on social media," he added.

On Bartomeu's controversial departure from the club, he said the following: "He didn't deserve this ending at all. It was a disgrace, a lynching. They were attacking us for every small thing, I can't understand it. Bartomeu has been slaughtered during the pandemic. Then the vote of no confidence. The 20,000 signatures are there, but it seems incredible that the Catalan government allowed a vote on a Tuesday and then lock us all down in our local areas two days later. It is a disgrace."

When asked whether he thinks the government's decisions were politically motivated, he said: "This is what most annoyed me at Barca, that there's a political motivation to use the club and it's obvious there are people trying to do that. I think things have been done quite well since the 2-8 loss. But I understand that unhappy people can use that democratic tool and if it worked well then fine. I was one those who wanted to resign beforehand."

"For me it was an error to dismiss Valverde when we were league leaders"

"It's the end of a cycle. There are players who are getting old, but Ansu (Fati) is exciting, Ter Stegen and De Jong are young, Pedri moving into the first team is the right decision. And there are quality experienced players. The foreign clubs are buying players from our academy. Koeman arrived, it was a very good decision and I backed his appointment internally. That said, in my opinion it was an error to sack Valverde when we did. There are people who think we should have dismissed him after Anfield, but I was one of those who defended. Valverde handled the group very well," he continued.

He added: "Everything moved faster when Abidal and Oscar Grau went to Qatar to talk to Xavi. I, one of the people in the charge of the sporting department, didn't know about it. In the end, the sporting matters were being controlled by Bartomeu, some other board members and the technical secretary. I tried to help as much as I could, but unfortunately, he did really listen to me."

"The thing about attacking the players is impossible, they were spoilt by us"

Bordas also spoke about the alleged attack by the club on the players. "The thing about attacking the players is impossible. They were spoilt by us, they are 70% of Barca's budget. Those who make the fans happy are the players. How are we going to attack them? I can't understand it. What would we do it for? When you're so generous with them. Why would you be like that if you're then going to attack them? 

On Pique's leadership: "Gerard is a very special player. He's the best central defender in the world and he's capable of bringing you a sponsor or becoming the owner of another club. His partner is Shakira who is a global star. Pique may become the club president one day. You don't need to defend him, he can defend himself. I don't think anyone can attack a player."

"Messi was fed up and decided to leave, but he may have made a mistake..."

Finally, Bordas was asked about Leo Messi's attempt to leave the club: "He's a winner and he loves Barca. Losing 2-8 together with the other Champions League defeats I guess made him fed up and he decided to leave. For me, the way he did it was ugly and wrong, it's obvious, but Messi can also make mistakes. Luckily, he doesn't make too many on the pitch."