Benedito: Only the players won the treble, not Josep Maria Bartomeu

Agusti Benedito, pre-candidate to the Barcelona presidency, has attributed the club's triple success to Lionel Messi and his teammates.

"Barça is the most attractive brand in the world, but nobody is going to come to your door with a cheque for 80 million euros. It is clear that they have not done a good job," explained Benedito, in an interview with EFE.

He received the second-highest number of votes in the 2010 elections, used Manchester United's sponsorship deal as an example, who receive 81 million euros per year.

"The Barça shirt is the most revered in the world. To think that only Qatar have any interest in sponsoring it, or that they are the only ones who will pay 60 million euros, would be a lack of awareness in the market."

Benedito insisted that Josep Maria Bartomeu and his team don't know how to exploit "the enormous potential" of the "biggest club in the world."

"There has to be a solid, global marketing plan. They have used a strategy of drawing pins: they have a world map up on the wall and they are sticking pins in it. A deoderant for 400,000 in Brazil, a beer from Mexico for 700,000, watches from Malaysia for 200,000, and then you say you're the best in the world."

The pre-candidate also looked to place more stock in the playing staff's achievements, as opposed to those at board level.

"The vast majority of fans know that the treble was not won due to Laporta, nor Rosell, nor Bartomeu. Luis Enrique, deserves a little credit, but everyone knows that the treble was earned by Messi and the players. Whoever was president of Barça, with Messi and a squad like the present one, would have won."

Therefore, Benedito doesn't consider Bartomeu to be the favourite, despite three trophies: "In 2010 we saw the same clearly, we voted during the time we had the best team in history with Laporta as president, and the man who was most anti-Laporta won, that was Rosell."

The candidate also spoke of Bartomeu's plans to revamp Camp Nou: "With 600 million euros of investment, 490 million of straight money and 300 million of a loan, they believed these are the conditions to create Espai Barça. Well, I don't. The last three stadiums that have been built in Europe have overspent by 40% and the club is not financially stable enough to take these risks."

"We will continue with the Miniestadi project, as well as the Ciudad Deportiva, and we will build a new Palau, that won't cost less than 120 million euros but will be the best pavilion in south Europe."