Laporta Defends Eto'o After Training Ground Incident

Joan Laporta has today defended Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto'o, following an incident at the training ground, where he was told to leave by coach Pep Guardiola.

The Barcelona president said that he believes the reaction of Eto'o, who answered back when spoken to by the coach, was, 'humanly understandable.'

"The players are under great pressure," he told AS .

"One day you can be in a bad mood, and the next in a good one, but there should be a person who sets the standard, and in this sense, I understand that Guardiola did what he thought was best for the team."

Naturally, Laporta was also questioned about his star player, Lionel Messi, who has been in the news lately regarding a shock move to Real Madrid, orchestrated by Florentino Pérez.

The president did not seem worried about the Argentine, who is contracted with Barcelona until 2014 and has a buy-out clause of €150 million.

"He is a player of Barcelona, he has a contract, he has a relationship with the club, and the club with him," he mused.

Laporta also had some words for former Real Madrid president, Ramón Calderón, who he described as, 'brave.'

"In my mind Ramón Calderón has been a great president of Real Madrid. A brave, winning, president, and we have seen that today," he told Marca .

He added that he believes he always, 'promoted the agreement and the good relations between the two clubs', but understood too, 'the sporting rivalry.'

James Walker-Roberts, Goal.com