Barcelona manager Xavi Hernandez has stood behind his president in claiming that there is a ‘sociological Madridismo’ that is in constant action against the club. Xavi declared that there has always been stories off the pitch aimed at ‘destabilising’ Barcelona from the Madrid media.
Xavi was asked about Joan Laporta’s words on Thursday, where he put the Negreira case in part down to a campaign against the Blaugrana.
“Within the camp, we don’t talk about this. We talk about football. But you have to look at the archives: Villarato, doping… I’m with the president one hundred percent. There have always been campaigns to destabilise Barcelona. It’s a reality. It’s a reality.”
Previously there was a running narrative that the former President of the RFEF Angel Maria Villar favoured Barcelona, while during the era of Pep Guardiola there was also a suggesting that Barcelona players were doping.
He was asked about exactly what was meant by ‘sociological Madridismo’.
“They are stories to destabilise. There is too much talk about non-sporting issues. In my time, there was talk of doping and Villarato, these come from newspapers from Madrid, invented by them.”
He was also asked if he, like Laporta, thought the Barcelona president had been charged as part of the bribery case due to that favouring of Real Madrid. His answer was simple.
“Yes.”
Xavi may or may not have reason to believe and assert that there is a campaign to destabilise Barcelona, but what nobody is arguing about is whether there were payments made to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. Beyond the legal case, and whether Barcelona are found guilty of bribery or corruption, those payments are in fact, and still there has been little acknowledgement from Barcelona that employing the Vice-President of the Referees Committee is fundamentally wrong.