'Absolutely necessary', Barcelona president Joan Laporta maintains support for the European Super League

The suspended European Super League has found support in Barcelona President Joan Laporta who termed the controversial league as the ‘necessity' for the greater good of football world. Along with Laporta, Juventus Chairman Andrea Agnelli and Real Madrid President Florentino Perez have also voiced in favour of the European Super League.

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"It is absolutely necessary," Laporta said on Catalan public television.

Twelve of the biggest European football clubs came together and founded a breakaway Super League. However, after receiving massive backlash from the fans and football greats, several clubs including all the six English clubs pulled out of the league. A day later, Spanish club Atlético Madrid and three Italian teams Juventus, AC Milan and Inter Milan also withdrew their name.

Despite getting almost no support, Perez was confident about the league’s chances. He revealed that the idea was still not dead but on standby. Both Juventus and AC Milan released their statements and said that they may join the Super League at a later date.

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Laporta further said that the Super Leagues are the defenders of the local leagues and want to make football better going forward. He added that they’re going to have a discussion with UEFA regarding the same.

"We are the defenders of maintaining local leagues and therefore, we are always open to dialogue with UEFA. That is the premise. Everyone wants to make football better and have the necessary resources to make it a great spectacle. Because if the big clubs don't have these resources, football will be damaged. There will be institutional harmony and a willingness to think about all this.

"There was a series of pressure which made some clubs pull out or value it in a different way, but the fact is that the proposal still exists but more resources are needed given that we have important investment, we paid important salaries and if we want football to be a spectacle through sporting merits, whoever wants this level of quality to be maintained must take into account what we are proposing," he added.