Ramos tells Sevilla: Go find another league
Reuters - Wednesday 31 August 2011, 14:01
MADRID - Sevilla should go and find
another league to play in if they are unhappy with La Liga, Real
Madrid's Sergio Ramos said in response to criticism from his
former club of Real and Barcelona's dominance in Spain.
Sevilla President Jose Maria del Nido slammed the structure
of the Spanish football league and said that only two teams
could win the title after Real and Barca won their opening
matches of the season 6-0 and 5-0 respectively last weekend.
"If he doesn't like this one, why doesn't he look for
another," Ramos told reporters as he joined up for international
duty with the Spain squad on Wednesday.
Del Nido described the league as "third-world" and "rubbish"
because of the way Barca and Real took half of the total revenue
earned from television rights, stirring up a debate on the state
of Spanish football.
Villarreal president Fernando Roig, whose side were thrashed
5-0 at the Nou Camp on Monday, said Real and Barca were "killing
Spanish football" and that changes had to be made.
Another Spain international, Sevilla striker Alvaro Negredo,
sided with his president.
"He is one of the people fighting to change the competition
and we support him," Negredo told reporters.
"It shouldn't just be about two teams. It's all about the
income the clubs earn to be able to strengthen their squads and
other teams can't do this. It's the main thing I would change."
Villarreal captain Marcos Senna, who helped Spain win Euro
2008, also sided with his boss.
"The superiority of Real and Barca is brutal," he said. "
"I agree with the president that this has to change, to level
things out."
Valencia, who have finished third the last two seasons 25
points behind second-placed Real in 2010 and 21 adrift in 2011,
joined the debate.
"They need to find a solution for the league," Valencia's
Argentine midfielder Pablo Piatti told reporters. "There is an
enormous economic difference, and Real and Barca are a long way
ahead of the rest."
European and Spanish champions Barca and Real, the world's
two richest clubs by revenue, operated on budgets four times the
size of their nearest rivals last season.
Barca Sports Director Andoni Zubizaretta brushed aside the
criticisms and suggestions the league was a two-horse race.
"We have an extraordinary league with great players," he
told a news conference on Wednesday.
"We have a national team who are world and European
champions, the Under-21s are European champions, as are the
Under-19s. This is, along with our great league, Spanish
football."