Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 08:29• Rian Rosendaal • Last update: 08:41

Uli Hoeness has lit the fire in the run-up to the meeting between Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Tuesday evening in the group stage of the Champions League. According to the honorary president of of the Rekordmeister the Catalan superpower had long been bankrupt in view of the enormous debt burden. Barcelona announced last year that there is a debt of no less than 1.35 billion euros, caused by the corona crisis and bad policy.

“Barcelona is basically bankrupt,” concludes Hoeness in a radio interview with Bayern1. “If Barcelona were a German club, the case would have gone to court long ago.” The times when Tuesday night’s opponent served as an example for Bayern are really over, the former chairman emphasizes. “The club no longer serves as a role model for us. David Alaba once said to me: ‘It is a dream to play for Barcelona one day’. I immediately said: ‘Do you want to negotiate with the chairman or the curator?’ Alaba traded Bayern for Real Madrid this summer.

Laporta hits back at Bartomeu: ‘Our debt amounts to 1.35 billion euros’

The Barcelona president revealed the huge debt burden last month.Read article

In Hoeness’s view, the Barcelona board should have paid much more attention to a thorough austerity operation. According to him, the departure of Lionel Messi and Antoine Griezmann has not been enough. “Let it be clear that I think that clubs should always push the boundaries. But if it is not possible financially, then you should also be able to say: ‘No, we are not going to do this’. Then you just don’t win once the Champions League,” Hoeness said.

Barcelona let Neymar leave for Paris Saint-Germain in 2017 for a record amount of 222 million euros. In recent years, however, a lot of money has been spent on attracting players. For example, 120 million euros was spent for the arrival of Griezmann, while Philippe Coutinho (135 million euros) and Ousmane Dembélé (135 million euros) were also very expensive purchases. In addition, there was a very expensive salary system at the Camp Nou. Partly because of this, it was decided in consultation to temporarily lower the salary of Gerard Piqué and Sergio Busquets, among others.

According to Hoeness, many more clubs should mirror Bayern in terms of the financial part. “But it has of course become a lot harder due to the corona pandemic. Last season, when we were not allowed to let spectators in, we lost eighty to one hundred million euros. As a result, our equity has evaporated. It has not completely disappeared, but it has to be done again. don’t go on like this for too long everyone.”