Hansi Flick, Deco in attendance for Joan Laporta’s ‘How we saved Barcelona’ book launch

Barcelona’s Ateneu Barcelonès was transformed into a blue-and-garnet celebration on Thursday night as club president Joan Laporta unveiled his memoir, Així hem salvat el Barça (This is How We Saved Barça), before an audience heavy with symbolism and star power. Flanked by first-team coach Hansi Flick and sporting director Deco, Laporta used the 90-minute presentation to frame the last five years as a story of crisis, reconstruction and, ultimately, vindication.

“I didn’t want to sound arrogant, but we saved Barça from a very complex situation,” Laporta told the packed hall, gesturing toward the book’s cover image: the president in a worker’s vest, sleeves rolled up, at a construction site inside Spotify Camp Nou. “It wasn’t done in offices, nor with a suit and tie. It was done by rolling up our sleeves and working hard.”

The president’s narrative arc began with the club’s liquidity woes in 2020 and ended with last season’s historic treble, a feat he described as “the excitement that has enamored all Barcelonistas.” Yet the evening’s most pointed remarks were reserved for the two club officials seated in the front row. “I want to highlight Deco’s work. It’s admirable because the situation was extremely difficult. We now have an economic surplus over the past three seasons and the squad has been renewed,” Laporta said, adding that seeing both Flick and Deco in attendance “are two of the things that make me happiest.”

The memoir launch did not shy away from lingering wounds. Addressing Lionel Messi’s 2021 exit, Laporta called it “the most difficult moment” of his tenure, explaining that “the economy wasn’t strong or solid enough to accommodate Messi. The most difficult moments are always saying that a player, a coach, or a staff member can’t continue. It was best for Barça and that’s life.”

Former players and administrators reinforced the air of continuity. Ex-forward Bojan Krkić, now the club’s football coordinator, sat alongside former president Joan Gaspart and several ex-board members, lending the event the feel of an institutional reunion.

With elections on the horizon, Laporta closed on an upbeat note, hinting that a future edition might yet include a chapter on “who we saved Barça from,” a remark interpreted as a veiled swipe at past political rivals. For now, the president’s message is clear: the reconstruction, captured in the pages presented Thursday night, is both his legacy and his platform.