Barcelona maintains support of Super League despite backlash

BARCELONA, Spain: The ill-fated Super League has enraged fans and troubled authorities while making allies of a pair of football's fiercest nemeses.

After 10 of the 12 clubs involved in the creation of the breakaway competition quickly dropped out under an escalating backlash, Barcelona president Joan Laporta emerged on Thursday as the sole supporter of the plan hatched by Real Madrid counterpart Florentino Pérez. "It is absolutely necessary,” Laporta said on Catalan public television in his first public comments on the project. "The biggest clubs create the most financial resources and we must have our say in deciding how the earnings are shared.”