UEFA chief Ceferin aims shots at 'cartels' Barca and Madrid

Ceferin, who has already made some harsh statements against FC Barcelona in an interview for a Slovenian media, has once again aimed some digs at the club, as well as Real Madrid: "There is no place for cartels in European football".

This week he had already stated that on Barça: "I have informed myself and the situation is extremely serious. It is so serious that, in my opinion, it is one of the most serious in football that I have ever seen."

Aleksander Ceferin is to be re-elected as UEFA president on Wednesday, April 5, as he is the only candidate. In Lisbon and at the congress of European football's governing body, the president has spoken out forcefully. 

After comparing Barça, Madrid and Juventus to a cartel for pushing the Super League plot, he also said: "Football does not belong to anyone, in fact it belongs to all of us. The general interest must be above the individual interest of three clubs, two financiers and their spokesman."

Ceferin, who did not talk about the 'Negreira case' this time, did focus more on the Super League: "Those who promoted that project say they want to save football. The Super League has become a Little Red Riding Hood character, a wolf disguised as a grandmother. Who are they fooling? Nobody. They are cartels over meritocracy and democracy. It's money over trophies".

Ceferin also took the opportunity to defend the Premier League model: "Jealousy is a bad adviser. Before it was UEFA that took the criticism, now it seems that it is the Premier League that is demonised and should be overthrown. The Premier League was created through a system of equality and solidarity between its clubs. Rather than a model to be destroyed, it is a model to be imitated."