Tragic rally accident Laporta attacks Real Madrid

A DRIVER and co ‐ driver were killed when their car hit a tree during the 42nd Rally Villa de Tineo 2023 in Asturias.

Tragedy struck the Rally Villa de Tineo 2023 in As ‐turias on Saturday, April 15, when a car left the road and crashed into a tree. Julio César Castrillo and his co‐driver, Francis‐co Javier Álvarez were killed in the accident.

JOAN LAPORTA ESTRUCH , lawyer, business‐man, politician, and cur ‐rently the president of Barcelona Football Club is back in the headlines af ‐ter his verbal attack on Real Madrid. In his efforts to defend his club that is caught up in the ‘Negreira Case’ he has lashed out at his rivals.

The ‘Negreira Case’ al ‐leges that between the years 2016 and 2018, Barcelona paid Jose María Enriquez Negreira, the vice ‐ president of the

Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), to tell players how to behave with each individual refer‐ee to give them a better chance of favourable treatment.

With reports coming out that Barcelona may be sanctioned by leaving them out of European competitions next season an angry Laporta has lashed out at Real Madrid saying they also received favours from referees.

Laporta said “I think it is worth remembering that for seven decades, most of the presidents of the CTA have been ex ‐ part ‐ners, ex ‐ players, or ex ‐managers of Real Madrid. In some cases all of them at the same time. This tri‐al will serve to expose them. It is an unprece ‐dented exercise in cyni ‐cism.”

He went on to attack Javier Tebas, the presi ‐dent of La Liga, accusing him of a lack of profes ‐sionalism with regard to the documentation he has reportedly supplied.

The organisers of the 42nd edition of this com ‐petition immediately took the decision to sus ‐pend the race and called for a minute’s silence in the Town Hall Square at 6.45pm in honour of the two deceased racers. Sat‐urday saw the drivers competing on the second and final day of this year’s rally.

Adrián Barbón, the president of the Principal‐ity, tweeted his dismay at the incident, posting: the socialist Adrián Barbón, has shown on his social networks his sadness at the news and has indicat‐ed that he has already contacted the mayor of Tineo, José Ramón Feito, to inquire about what happened.

“Very saddened by the news of the death of the driver Julio César Castrillo and his co‐driver, Francis‐co Javier Álvarez, during the dispute of the penul ‐timate stage of the day Rally Villa de Tineo. My deepest condolences to their families and friends,” he posted. He added: “I have just spoken with the mayor of Tineo, José Ramón Feito. A lot of pain with this ter‐rible news, which leaves us all sunk. I am really sorry.”

The Principality’s Auto‐mobile Federation also offered its ‘immense sup ‐port’ to the families and friends of the two drivers who died after the fatal accident.