“Florentino congratulated me” - Barcelona’s Joan Laporta speaks up meeting with Real Madrid president after Copa del Rey triumph

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has stated that Real Madrid president Florentino Perez discarded rivalry and congratulated him after La Blaugrana defeated Los Blancos in the 2025 Copa del Rey final on Saturday (April 26). Barcelona secured a 3-2 victory after 120 minutes at Estadio de La Cartuja.

Tensions boiled over prior to the clash as Real Madrid posted a video on their TV channel pointing out what they deem as errors in the matches officiated by the appointed referee, Ricardo de Burgos. They voiced concerns that the match might be unfairly officiated against them.

During the second half of the extra-time, a decision made by Burgos in favor of Barcelona was met with fury by the Real Madrid bench.

In a recent interview with RAC1, Laporta said he and Perez ignored the debacle that surrounded the match and showed mutual respect to each other. He said (via Madrid Zone):

“Florentino congratulated me after the Copa final. We wanted to move on from everything that happened before and our plan for the final was to talk about football. A game that would generate passion, ignite rivalry, play high-quality football, and be a spectacle worthy of the best game in the world.”

The 2025 Copa del Rey final was the third clash between La Blaugrana and Los Blancos this season. Much to the chagrin of Los Blancos and their fans, their archrivals came out victorious in all three meetings.

"He is a coach who prefers to go year by year" – Joan Laporta on why Hansi Flick signed with Barcelona until 2026

In the same interview, Laporta also touched on Hansi Flick’s future at Barcelona. Flick's contract with the Catalan club extends until the summer of 2026. Laporta said the German tactician prefers to sign year by year rather than committing his long-term future to a club.

Laporta told RAC1:

"Flick knows that it is a stage that we want to last as long as possible, that he fits in due to his human and sporting abilities, due to his way of understanding the club, but he is a coach who prefers to go year by year and have a year's margin, we have Hansi for this season and the next and the sports commission is doing what needs to be done for the immediate future."

Hansi Flick currently has the second-best win percentage in Barcelona’s history as their head coach. The German tactician has a 75% win rate with 40 wins in 53 matches. Luis Enrique has the best win percentage 76% with 138 wins in 188 matches.