Barcelona President Joan Laporta and El Caso Negreira were the main part of the agenda ahead of the La Liga assembly, called in order to address several issues, including that scandal and the refereeing controversy of late.
According to multiple sources, Relevo included, it was a tense atmosphere during the meeting, as explanations were demanded from Laporta. Many clubs were frustrated with Barcelona and wanted to clear up two key points; firstly that the desire to see El Caso Negreira cleared up was not an obsession of La Liga President of Javier Tebas, but the desire of the clubs, secondly, that they disagreed with the idea that ‘all clubs’ hire consultants such as Enriquez Negreira.
“It is a requirement of all the clubs made to LaLiga that this case goes all the way, it is not something related to Tebas. It is a matter of LaLiga and of the majority of clubs,” said Miguel Angel Gil of Atletico Madrid.
“We are all LaLiga and what is happening is not something normal. It is something very strange. The irresponsible actions are not down to LaLiga; thety come from Barcelona. Because of your actions we are discredited at a Spanish and European level,” added Adrian del Nido of Sevilla.
Joan Laporta and Javier Tebas meet for the first time since the #CasoNegreira revelations.pic.twitter.com/vx9TlTCWen
— Football España (@footballespana_) April 19, 2023
“LaLiga and the clubs respect you, and it’s your home, but it’s a subject that smells bad and we demand an answer; not LaLiga, all the clubs.”
Real Madrid on the other hand were conspicuous by their silence on the matter, with President Florentino Perez absent. Other than their video suggesting Barcelona were favoured by the Spanish dictatorship, Los Blancos have remained silent.
Laporta spoke for around 20 minutes on the matter, but the general feeling was that he had not allayed doubts surrounding the club.
Despite Laporta’s lengthy public attempts to explain the situation, the general verdict outside of Barcelona is that there is still more to do in order to clear their name. Laporta may protest that this is part of the campaign to do just that, but it appears there will be little clarity until a judge declares a verdict.
