Barcelona Referee Scandal: After the thrilling on-field El Clasico, the rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona has moved off the field. Real Madrid also entered into the battle after Laporta’s statements regarding the Negreira case. The Los Blancos have made an official statement on Barcelona with a video attempting to disarm claims of Laporta stating they were ‘the club of the regime’. Follow La Liga LIVE Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Earlier, Barcelona’s President hit out at Real Madrid during Monday’s press conference to explain the club’s involvement in the Negreira case.
The Catalan giants were accused of paying former referee chief Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira for analysis and information on match officials. La Liga also charged the club with ‘continuous sporting corruption’.
On Monday, Barcelona’s president made a few remarks against arch-rivals Real Madrid and questioned their credibility by adding facts from past history. Laporta claimed that Real Madrid have been historically favored as they were ‘the club of the regime’ when dictator Francisco Franco ruled Spain from 1939 to 1975.
— Real Madrid C.F. 🇬🇧🇺🇸 (@realmadriden) April 18, 2023
Laporta said in the press conference, “(Real Madrid) claim to feel aggravated in sporting terms by this. This comes from a club, as we all know, that has been favoured from refereeing back in history and still nowadays. A club that was regarded as ‘the club of the regime’ back in the days.”
“Why was that? Because of how close they were to the political, economical and sportive power…it might have to be remembered that during seven decades, the majority of presidents and officials from the refereeing committee were former Real Madrid partners, former Real Madrid footballers or former Real Madrid executives. During 70 years, the people in charge to make decisions in that regard were from Real Madrid.”
The Barca president appeared at the press conference with four boxes of documents. In them, he said, were 629 referees’ reports, 43 CDs and four players’ reports: “It is clear that they paid for reports that are documented.”
He also added, “Contreras is no longer with us. I would be grateful if you would make the effort to read the report by the Tax Agency.
“On pages 13 and 14, you can deduce that these companies appeared at a specific time that is outside my mandate. I have no personal reason to doubt the presidents who succeeded me.”
The investigation has been started by UEFA as well and if all stories get right, Barcelona can face a ban from entering the UEFA competition. They are likely to win the La Liga trophy and will be seen in Champions League next season.
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