Toni Freixa: "The pardon doesn’t make the aggressor innocent”
Speaking after the general assembly of the Spanish FA, the secretary to the Board told reporters that Club president Sandro Rosell had spoken out against the lack of punishment for the aggression on Tito Vilanova.
The case discussed at a meeting of the Spanish FA concerns an incident featuring Real Madrid’s
José Mourinho during the Super Cup match in the Camp Nou last August. The pardon, which closes the book on the aggression by
José Mourinho on
Tito Vilanova, was announced by the president of the Spanish FA, Angel Maria Villar. Club president Sandro Rosell spoke against the pardon at a meeting of the management board of the FA.
"Aggression can never go unpunished”
Freixa told us:
"In the first place, we took a number of actions (prior to the meeting) including a phone call to the Federation, and we explained our point of view. However, it was yesterday in particular that president Rosell expressed our disagreement with the measure to the members of the management committee. He even suggested that a pardon should only be available in the cases of punishments related incidents on the pitch, as aggression can never go unpunished”.
"This measure doesn’t include sanctions related to aggression towards the match officials. Sanctions which are the consequence of aggression shouldn’t be contemplated in the measures”.
"We understand that an aggression on a coach deserves punishment. This measure doesn’t make the aggressor innocent but it allows them to believe that they can keep on being aggressive without consequences. It’s a bad example for Spanish football that this aggression hasn’t been punished”.