Barcelona officially pull out of European Super League to leave Real Madrid on their own in fight to challenge UEFA

Plans to form a new European Super League were announced in 2021, with 12 clubs originally involved. Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico were the three Spanish clubs set to join, along with Italian sides Inter, Juventus and AC Milan and six Premier League teams (Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, and Tottenham). However, a fierce backlash saw the Premier League clubs quickly pull out of the project and the other clubs subsequently followed, apart from the two Spanish giants. Barcelona have now confirmed their intention to withdraw, leaving Madrid as the only team left standing.

It was reported some time ago that Barca planned to discard the plan, and the club have posted a statement to confirm the news, saying: "FC Barcelona hereby announces that today it has formally notified the European Super League Company and the clubs involved of its withdrawal from the European Super League project."

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Barcelona were reported to be in favour of a European Super League as a means to help ease their continued financial difficulties. However, president Joan Laporta has admitted recently the club will now try to build closer ties with UEFA instead after seeing support for the project collapse.

He told AS: "The president of UEFA and the president of the ECA, now the EFC, invited us to come to Rome. I attended several meetings. It was wonderful, exciting, and we discussed many issues. You know, we’re committed to building bridges between the Super League and UEFA. Barca has a clear position, and those affected and those responsible already know it.  We’re in favour of peace because there’s room to explore together for the clubs in the Super League to return to UEFA. We feel very close to UEFA and the EFC.

"This is at the point of reaching an agreement with UEFA. Both Aleksander Ceferin and Nasser Al-Khelaifi are in a position to promote the agreement and welcome us into UEFA and the EFC. We are determined to take this step because it benefits European football and the clubs. It’s a very broad framework because it also benefits the players."

Meanwhile, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has continued to speak of his support for the project. He has also said the club will seek compensation from UEFA over it's blocking of the Super League, telling reporters: "We still insist [the Super League] is an essential project for football. With the historic judgment of the European court, and two additional judgments from the Madrid court, the situation is very different. We have had our right to create our own competitions recognised. We can also claim multimillion euro damages for UEFA's conduct. We have two rights: to be compensated for our losses, and to arrange a competition in the future, and we will tirelessly pursue both."

Real Madrid are yet to respond to Barcelona's statement but there's no doubt there's been increasing tension between the two clubs this season. Perez hit out at Barcelona over the ongoing Negreira scandal earlier in the campaign, while Laporta has responded by accusing Los Blancos of "vomiting lies". On the pitch, the two teams remain locked in a battle to top La Liga, with Barcelona currently leading the way, just a point clear of their rivals.