The year of Laporta (part 1)

Barcelona president Joan Laporta looked back at the year 2008 in an interview with Catalan sports paper Sport.




January: Iniesta renews his contract until 2014 and his clause.
Andres Iniesta has proven himself as one of the most valuable players on the team. He is a key player and as I've said before, he's a part of the club's crest. Assuring that he'll continue was, without a doubt, great news for Barcelona fans.

February: Dismissal of Dusko Ivanovic as basketball coach.
Our basketball team needed something new so we ended the era of Dusko from the sidelines. The bid for Xavi Pascual, proposed by both director Josep Cubells and then-secretary Zoran Savic, was assured to be a good decision. The team has recovered something important: the connection with Palau.

March: Barca, to the quarterfinals of the Champions League but Messi is out two months.
It was a harsh blow to our hopes in such an important transition period of the season, qualified for the quarterfinals, and improving in the Liga and in the semifinals of the Copa del Rey. Samuel Eto'o's injury, in addition to Leo's, hurt our offensive potential.

April: The season ends without a title.
A great disappointment, without a doubt, because we had many hopes in the Champions League. From the stands, I was screaming for a penalty that wasn't given to Leo Messi. I'm sorry for that, but what Barcelona fan hasn't rebelled against a referee's decision? The consequence of the season made room for change, as anticipated, with Pep Guardiola as manager. That night ended a season without a title.

May: Rijkaard says goodbye to the Camp Nou.
We owe Frank a lot. I know that the Barcelona supporters thank Frank Rijkaard for all that he did for us. Great football, titles and a way of playing that could only be replaced by somebody like Guardiola.

June: Guardiola takes over with a new team.
He had assured me before that he would take over. The day that I proposed that he would take over the first team, he first assured me that Barca B would be promoted and that they would be winners of their group.

Translated by: AL


This was the first part of this interview. You can read the second part on this blog in the coming days with Laporta talking -among other things- about the vote of confidence and about Eto'o not leaving last summer.

Read more:
Laporta: "We want to be global to be stronger"
Laporta: "To govern is to resist"