Barcelona's bitter row with La Liga takes another twist as league removes controversial VIP seats statement which provoked angry response from Catalan giants

On Monday, Barcelona confirmed that they had decided to withdraw from the Delegate Commission, joining Celta Vigo and Las Palmas in the move. However, La Liga has since removed the official announcement regarding Barca's salary limit deduction from its website, according to SPORT.

The development follows a dispute over Barcelona’s finanes. Last week, La Liga revealed that the club’s latest accounts did not include a €100 million (£83m/$108m) sale related to the leasing of 475 VIP seats at the renovated Camp Nou for a period of 30 years. In response to this, Barcelona president Joan Laporta vowed to issue a strong statement against La Liga’s actions.

Barca released a strongly-worded press release accusing La Liga of disrespect on Monday, while also questioning president Javier Tebas' integrity. In the aftermath of Barca's angry reaction, La Liga removed their original press release regarding Barca's salary limit and followed it up with a small statement.

“LaLiga communicates its total disagreement with the accusation regarding an alleged violation of the right to confidentiality due to the dissemination, by this institution, of the press release referred to by FC Barcelona," La Liga's statement read.

"In order to avoid formal disputes that could divert attention from the underlying issue – an issue that LaLiga considers very concerning – the aforementioned press release has been withdrawn. It is expressly stated that this does not constitute recognition of any irregularity in its content," the statement concluded.

Despite their off-pitch struggles and regular back and forth with La Liga, Barcelona are in imperious form on the pitch. They are currently leading the league with a four-point lead over rivals Real Madrid and are the favourites to progress to the semi-finals of the Champions League when they face Borussia Dortmund in the first leg of the last-eight on Wednesday.