Barcelona president ‘delight’ at freed Sandro Rosell

Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has expressed his ‘delight’ that his predecessor Sandro Rosell has been freed from prison.

Rosell has been released, pending trial, alongside his business partner Joan Besoli following a three-day trial arguing that they did not provide a risk and that they should be freed.

The 54-year-old stands accused of assisting to launder €15m via tax havens between the years of 2007 and 2011 while he was arrested last year in relation to buying television rights for Brazil matches.

“I am delighted that Rosell has been freed,” Bartomeu explained on El Transistor.

“We have not spoken yet since the news has broken, but I am going to see him (on Thursday) because we are close friends and we both want to celebrate this good news.

“Our El Clasico victory? It was a very tough match as we expected but we were very clinical in the final third and this made the difference, it was the perfect ending to a good day.”

Rosell, a former Nike executive, was Barca president between 2010 and denies any wrongdoing, while he was also stand trial in a separate case linked to Neymar’s signing from Santos in 2013.

The trial is set to conclude by the end of March.

Tags Josep Maria Bartomeu
La Liga - Club News