The viral response of Joan Laporta to Jude Bellingham's "fuck off"

The controversy over Jude Bellingham's expulsion against Osasuna remains the topic of the moment in LaLiga. On Monday, the main newspapers and sports media in Spain continued the debate about the meaning of the phrase that led referee José Luis Munuera Montero to issue a red card to the Real Madrid midfielder. Even Joan Laporta, in the lead-up to the FC Barcelona-Rayo Vallecano match, was asked about the latest scandal shaking the Madrid fanbase. "You who know English, what is the difference between 'fuck off' and 'fuck you'?", some journalists asked the Barça president.

"Pleased to meet you" (the president of Barça replied with an ironic smile upon arriving at the lunch with the Rayo board. The debate about the meaning of both phrases and the context in which they are used lies in the fact that Jude claims to have said "fuck off" to himself, while Munuera Montero recorded a "fuck you" in his report. 

Laporta attended the board lunch prior to matchday 24 of LaLiga accompanied by Barça's sports vice president, Rafa Yuste, at the renowned Alkimia restaurant in the City of Barcelona. Barça closed a historic matchday with the victory against Rayo (1-0), a result that allowed them to regain the lead in LaLiga.

Jude Bellingham, resigned to face a harsh sanction

Meanwhile, the English midfielder seems resigned to facing a harsh sanction in LaLiga. According to the Disciplinary Code, an expulsion for insulting the referee can be punished with a minimum of four matches and a maximum of twelve. In this sense, beyond the criticisms from the 'cave', there is consensus about Bellingham's mistake in using that phrase against the Andalusian referee. Cristiano Ronaldo himself had referred to the meaning of the phrase in 2018.

For his part, former Spanish referee Eduardo Iturralde González was also blunt when referring to the controversy, defending Munuera Montero's decision to expel the '5' of Madrid for saying a phrase that, according to many Madrid fans, is common in England without referees doing anything. "You can't say it's tradition when in 2012 Arsène Wenger (former Arsenal coach) received a four-match ban for telling the referee 'fuck off'", the former referee began.

In that sense, he added: "Do you know what the problem is? That if an Englishman comes here, he has to drive on the left, not on the right. And if he comes here, he has to respect the language we speak here". In this regard, he made it clear that any disrespect on the field should be punished with a red card and it will be the Competition Committee's decision to determine the sanction for the player, according to the criteria when analyzing whether it was truly "an insult or contempt".