Barcelona president criticises Real Madrid forward after Super Cup final: ‘Surprised by what he did’

Speaking to RAC1 (h/t SPORT), Barcelona president Joan Laporta has come out and criticised Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe after Sunday’s Spanish Super Cup final.

Real Madrid came up short in a final against Barcelona for the third time in a row, losing 3-2 in Saudi Arabia, after being beaten in last season’s Super Cup and Copa del Rey finals.

Following the match, during the trophy presentation, the Los Blancos’ players did not offer a guard of honour for the victors.

A video on social media has been doing the rounds suggesting Kylian Mbappe was the one who insisted on his teammates to not give the Barça stars a guard of honour.

Laporta fires shots

And now, Laporta has reacted to it, stating that he was surprised by Mbappe’s behaviour and he expected the Real Madrid players to be ‘generous and respectful’ despite the defeat.

“I’m surprised by what Mbappe did. In victory and defeat, you have to be generous and respectful. This is sport and you have to behave normally,” he said.

Laporta was critical of Kylian Mbappe. (Photo by Yasser Bakhsh/Getty Images)

“I think that we were generous in victory and respected the opposing team. That’s why I can’t understand it,” the Barcelona president added.

Laporta went on to explain that there had been tension built up between the since the La Liga match at the Bernabeu earlier in the season, and that this was evident on the pitch.

“There was a change since the league match, and the players were somewhat irritated. It’s understandable,” he said.

“The truth is that I didn’t see that moment with Mbappe on the pitch, but I understand that it must have been a very difficult moment. They must have been very upset and that’s why there was that reaction.”

Not stopping at that, Laporta said that he felt that the Real Madrid players might have been stung after seeing Barça’s ‘superiority’ in the final.

“I think they already realised that we had more chances of winning this match, but they saw it for themselves on the pitch and, in the end, that’s tough because you see what’s there,” he noted.

Source: Sports Yahoo