Real Madrid vs Barcelona live updates: El Clasico Spanish Super Cup final team news, predictions
Florentino Perez and Joan Laporta met for the first time in nearly a year ahead of the Spanish Super Cup final on Sunday.
The presidents of Real Madrid and Barcelona have not met publicly since the escalation in tensions between the two rival clubs following the Negreira case in February of last year.
Perez has failed to attend any of the three Clasicos held in Barcelona since then including the most recent, in Montjuic, in October.
However, both were present at the official cocktail party organised by the Spanish FA and the Spanish Embassy for the Super Cup finalists on Saturday.
The two sides meet at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on Sunday.
Since March, Barcelona have been facing corruption charges over payments made to the vice-president of Spanish football’s refereeing committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, in a case brought by the Spanish public prosecutor’s office.
Negreira has denied ever favouring Barcelona in terms of refereeing decisions. Barcelona have also denied any wrongdoing and earlier this year said they hired Negreira as an “external consultant” who provided reports “related to professional refereeing”.
Tensions rose following comments from Laporta, criticising Real’s apparent power and influence in the Negreira case, as well as an embrace between Laporta and Real CEO Jose Angel Sanchez at a La Liga Assembly in October, which drew criticism from supporters.
Another trigger point appears to have been a now deleted tweet allegedly sent from the account of Barcelona board member Mikel Camps, criticising Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior after he performed a number of stepovers during a Champions League victory over Braga.
Real Madrid beat Atletico Madrid in the first semi-final on Wednesday before Barcelona advanced past Osasuna on Thursday to confirm Sunday’s final.
Additional reporting: Guillermo Rai
