Laporta seems to be siding with Eto'o. have plenty more going on behind the scenes.
Laporta denies That Eto'o refused to playMADRID, Spain (AP) - FC Barcelona president Joan Laporta denied Samuel Eto'o had refused to play last Sunday, saying the striker opted out for physical reasons.
"His knee needs time to warm up and he didn't have enough time. He preferred to be careful," Laporta was quoted as saying by the Web site of sports daily Marca. "He didn't do anything inappropriate or wrong. There is no way it can be deduced that Eto'o refused to play soccer for Barcelona."
The Cameroon striker wouldn't leave the bench after assistant coach Eusebio Sacristan instructed him to prepare to enter as a late substitute in Barcelona's 2-0 league win over Racing Santander at Camp Nou stadium.
Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard, visibly irritated during Sunday's post-match news conference, described the striker's refusal as "a shame."
Rijkaard is reportedly still awaiting an apology from Eto'o.
Eto'o had been expected to offer Rijkaard an explanation of his behavior at Monday's training. Instead, he stayed in the club gymnasium, apparently because of a painful knee, El Pais reported Tuesday.
Rijkaard is likely to decide what action to take after he has spoken to the player. Eto'o risks being fined or even dropped from Barcelona's squad for next Sunday's Spanish league game at Valencia.
However, Laporta implied a punishment wouldn't be necessary.
"When he speaks to Frank it will all be cleared up," said Laporta, who spoke to Eto'o on Monday. "Rijkaard is a master when it comes to solving this type of thing."
Eto'o has only recently returned from a four-month absence following a serious right knee injury he picked up in a Champions League match at Werder Bremen.
The 26-year-old striker reappeared for five minutes at the end of Barcelona's 0-0 draw with Osasuna on Feb. 4 and reportedly felt he deserved more time on the field Sunday. But Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes said that Eto'o needed to be patient.
"He has a strong personality and he's very keen to play and that's understandable. But he has to take things slowly," Valdes said.
The rift with Eto'o has arisen at a bad time for Barcelona, which continues its Champions League title defense next week in the first leg of the second round against Liverpool.
Barcelona is also aiming to retain its Spanish title and lift the Copa del Rey for the first time since 1998. The team has a three-point lead in the league but is a goal down against Zaragoza after the first leg of the quarterfinals in Spain's knockout competition.
Eto'o has scored 68 goals for Barcelona since arriving from Mallorca in 2004. He has been voted Africa's top player for the last three years and finished third in the FIFA world player award of 2005.
In May 2005, the striker was fined €12,000 (US$15,629) by the Spanish soccer federation for insulting former club Real Madrid during Barcelona's title celebrations.
A year ago, he threatened to walk off the field during Barcelona's game at Zaragoza after being racially taunted by home supporters.
RTE SportsSamuel Eto'o has lifted the lid on a potentially devastating rift within the Barcelona ranks while rejecting manager Frank Rijkaard's claims he refused to play in Sunday's 2-0 win over Racing Santander.
Eto'o is just returning to full fitness after a serious knee injury and had been expected to play some part, but did not enter the contest with five minutes remaining when Rijkaard was ready to field him.
Having played the last five minutes against Osasuna with barely a touch of the ball, Eto'o was seen warming up at the Nou Camp last weekend looking somewhat perturbed and was not sent on as a substitute.
A journalist asked Rijkaard after the game why the prolific hitman had not played, and Rijkaard replied that Eto'o had not wanted to play. He said: 'He didn't want to come on,' and added 'it was a shame.'
According to reports in Spain, Eto'o did not attend training yesterday and today he spoke to the media.
'Whoever came out in a press conference and said I refused to play is a bad person,' Eto'o fumed. 'I've always thought about the group (first) and I've always trained with the group. If anybody has balls, they should tell it to me face-to-face.'
Barcelona president Joan Laporta spoke to reporters and said Eto'o had expected to play 15 minutes of the game.
Laporta claimed Eto'o had not done anything wrong, saying the player merely was not warmed up sufficiently and ready to enter the game.
Meanwhile, Eto'o claimed today there were serious problems between two groups of players at Barcelona.
'There's a division in the changing room between two clans, one who supports the president Joan Laporta, the other who supports the (former vice-president) Sandro Rosell,' he said.
Rosell, who had headed up sportswear giants Nike in South America, helped lure players like Ronaldinho and Deco to Barcelona but was eventually forced out of the club after a disagreement with long-term friend Laporta.
'This is not my war, this is a war. I'm in the middle of a war between two people and I'm the one who is taking all the punishment. But I will return and return to play.'
As well as criticising Rijkaard's comments he also spoke about comments reportedly made by Ronaldinho: 'If a player comes out and says I should think about the group, then he should think about the group.'
The rift between Laporta and Rosell was a badly-kept secret stemming from the president's preference to listen to the advice of former Barca manager Johan Cruyff rather than his vice-president.
However, Eto'o's comments reveal for the first time that the rift - between 'Laporta players' and 'Rosell players' (the South American contingent including Ronaldinho and Deco) - extends to the players' dressing room.
