Luis Figo is regarded as a legend of the game because of his quality during his playing days. The Portuguese maestro was perhaps the first elite winger in the world. His decision to join Real Madrid from Barcelona made him the most hated player in the world at the time. Many thought he joined Los Blancos for money, but his stance has always been different.
Luis Figo played during the golden era of the Real Madrid side, which was famous for its Galactico signings. Figo was the first of the bunch. In a recent interview, the Real Madrid legend called for his former club, Barcelona, to be punished amid ongoing corruption scandals and financial irregularities and also talked about a host of other issues.
Luis Figo wants punishment for Barcelona
It’s been a very tough season for Barcelona. It’s been too tough, and even fans of other clubs are beginning to show empathy towards them. The corruption allegations started last April, but things didn’t blow up like this because they were in contention to win La Liga for the first time under Xavi, who has since announced to leave his post at the end of the season amid the ongoing crisis at the club.
The club was accused of paying direct payments to referees to help influence the game, and while the club has claimed the payments, amounting to over $7 million, were paid for honest consultation work, the case has blown up, and nobody quite believes them. Former Barcelona and Real Madrid player Luis Figo has now expressed his opinion on the matter, calling for Barcelona to be punished if found guilty.
“We have to get to the bottom of this, and there have to be consequences because it is very serious,” the Ballon d’Or holder said. “I don’t know, I’m not a judge. In Spain, we could spend the whole afternoon talking about what’s going on.
“If there are laws and there are judges, they must be followed. If there are laws that are not enforced, then all of us can bypass democracy. We skip the social and sports laws, and that’s it. Laws aren’t the same for everyone, but they should be,” Figo added.
Barcelona’s off-field struggles have affected their performances on the pitch. The Catalans are eight points behind Real Madrid with just 10 games to go. They’re also still in contention for the Champions League, but have to go through PSG first for their quarter-final draw.
Barcelona fans once pelted Luis Figo with pig’s head
Luis Figo found himself in a difficult situation when he allegedly entered into an agreement with Florentino Perez, who was running to become Real Madrid’s president in 2000. Figo was coming off the back of winning the Ballon d’Or that year, and the agreement was that he’d come as the first signing of Perez’s Real Madrid era, kickstarting the beginning of the Galactico era for the club.
Luis Figo stuck with their arrangement and left Barcelona for Real Madrid for a world record fee of €62 million at the time. This broke the hearts of Barcelona fans, who couldn’t believe their own star player had left them in search of more money with a rival club. This move further fueled the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona, and each time the clubs met, Figo was always the victim.
In his second return to Camp Nou for Real Madrid, Figo was on corner duties, and while taking a corner kick, he was greeted with a host of boos and cheers, with fans throwing things at him. One of these things was a severed pig head. The game was paused for 16 minutes as real players claimed they didn’t feel safe in that hostile environment. That match is regarded as the fiercest El Clasico ever.
