Barcelona president Joan Laporta appears to have backtracked on the club's plans for a European Super League and has said it would be 'tiresome' if the continent's top teams played each other often.
Last Sunday, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez said at the club's annual assembly that football was 'sick', lamenting the fact that Los Blancos had played Liverpool only nine times in 67 years and against Chelsea on just four occasions in the European Cup.
But Laporta told Proyecto Sonora: "I think if the big clubs always played against each other, it would end up being tiresome.
"To those of us who love football, it would be tiresome. It's special and healthy when a smaller team beats a bigger team. Supporting the weaker team is very special.
"When Greece won the Euros, it was very nice. When Leicester won in England, it was special. That's football."
Laporta initially backed Barcelona's participation in a new Super League upon returning to the presidency at Camp Nou last year, but now says he is keen to protect domestic competitions.
"I came in quite late to the Super League as a representative of Barça, with everything quite advanced," he said.
"My criteria was, not to have a closed league, but to have an open Super League, for there to be meritocracy. And another thing we have to work out is for the Super League to coexist alongside the leagues of each country.
"I believe in the leagues of each country and for me, it would be a mistake for the Super League to substitute the [domestic] leagues."
Asked what the future could be for the much-maligned project, he said: "A Super League that would be an improved Champions League. With a very good competition format, which would surely be the most attractive in the world. But at the same time we have to be careful to keep the national leagues in place, that's fundamental."
