Laporta: The Artful Dodger of Barcelona

Barcelona president Joan Laporta is a rascal and a rogue, but his love for the Catalan club and his ability to keep it going make him an essential figure.

When Laporta first took charge 21 years ago, he inspected the club's youth academy and discovered a young Lionel Messi. Since then, Laporta has been a master of the art of survival, navigating the club through countless financial challenges and political battles.

Sunday's Supercup Final thrashing of Real Madrid came at a time when Laporta's critics had been circling, reportedly with the will to launch a vote of no confidence. But that's not where the story of luck ends for this 62-year-old lawyer. In 2021, he returned to power via the March elections after a long hiatus away from the Camp Nou. A little over a year later, he watched Barcelona's legendary player-turned-manager Xavi Hernandez give a debut to 15-year-old Lamine Yamal.

Laporta has silverware in his hands, the sense of triumph is palpable, his players' faces are bathed in that post-jouissance ecstasy. The battle is won and the war may be turning their way -- everything looks right with their world. But as ever with Laporta, please don't judge the book by the cover.

A few days earlier, it had looked like all the verbal promises he'd been making to Dani Olmo and Pau Víctor weren't worth the paper they were written on. Given that Barcelona were in violation of LaLiga's Financial Fair Play rules, the two players were de-registered by the league and faced six months, on full pay, sitting on the sidelines unable to play. That is until Laporta persuaded the Spanish Government to intervene, having already failed on multiple occasions to convince LaLiga to do so.

This tricky, rascally individual is the Laporta I'd like to remind you of.