Atletico de Madrid v Villarreal CF - LaLiga EA Sports 2026/27
MADRID, SPAIN - AUGUST 23: Julián Alvarez of Atletico de Madrid looks on during the LaLiga EA Sports 2026/27 match between Atletico de Madrid and Villarreal CF at Riyadh Air Metropolitano on August 23, 2026 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
CSmith1919 Chuck Smith is the site manager for Bavarian Football Works, where he began writing in 2017. He is the author of The Daily Schmankerl, the longest-running daily Bayern Munich column in English, and also writes The Weekend Warm-Up. In addition to covering Bayern Munich news and providing commentary on Bayern Munich, the Bundesliga, and the German national team. He brings more than 30 years of sports-writing experience to the site. Over the course of his career, he has written for numerous newspapers and websites.
Atlético Madrid has fired back at Barcelona president Joan Laporta over the Julián Álvarez situation, making its position on a potential transfer crystal clear.
In a statement to Marca (as captured by Fabrizio Romano), Atlético insisted that the Argentine striker will not be sold to Barcelona and accused the Catalan club of creating a damaging situation around the player:
🚨🔴⚪️ Atlético Madrid statement after Laporta words on Julián Álvarez.
“The player is being victimized, but the only victim of the Julián case is us”.
“They have harmed us economically and socially. There is 0% chance of selling him to Barça. This situation is not about money, it’s about dignity. There is 0% chance of selling it to Barça”.
“There’s a campaign with many lies and half-truths. The only one who pays for this is Atlético”, told
@marca.
Clearly there is some bad blood here, but there would be a seismic shift in the Champions League landscape depending on that the end result is of this mess. Right now, it looks like Barca will have an impossible task in trying to get this deal done.
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