After years of investigation, last week saw several key figures finally give evidence in the Negreira case, in which Barcelona stand accused of sporting corruption and fraud, alongside former Vice-President of the Referees Committee (CTA) Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. One of the claimants is Real Madrid, among a number of other La Liga clubs.
The scandal surrounds €7.5m in payments between 2001 and 2018 made from Barcelona to Negreira. The Catalan giants have denied any wrongdoing, saying that the payments were for consultancy work, more specifically reports on referee tendencies and performances.
Real Madrid to pursue maximum punishment for Barcelona
The word from Real Madrid is that they will pursue consequences as far as they can when it comes to the Negreira case, say Marca. Los Blancos, who believe there still exists a wider culture of bias against them, believes that it is necessary for both Real Madrid and Spanish football that the case ends with sanctions for Barcelona.
They are following the case carefully, and will do so by waiting for the sentence dictated to Barcelona. Once the court proceedings have been resolved, Real Madrid intend to inform FIFA of all of the goings on. As such, Real Madrid TV have been publishing a number of video reports on what they deem to be unfair treatment over the years, focusing in on the number of cards given to Barcelona, their opponents, Real Madrid, and their opponents – although this follows an editorial line in place for years.
Real Madrid blame previous Barcelona presidents
Interestingly, despite the payments to Negreira beginning under Joan Gaspart, continuing under Joan Laporta, Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, it is only the latter two, and former executive Alvaro Soler that Los Blancos are primarily pointing the finger at. Soler later became an executive at the Ministry for Sport, and changed the statute of limitations regarding the case to just five years back in 2021, two years before the case became public knowledge, something that Real Madrid are seeking explanations for.
Last week while giving evidence, Rosell noted that numerous presidents of the CTA were self-proclaimed Real Madrid fans, and at the Bernabeu, they are keen to see him punished.
Florentino Perez and Joan Laporta
It certainly places the relationship between the two clubs in an intriguing spot. Real Madrid President Florentino Perez did not mention the Negreira case at the Real Madrid General Assembly last year, and instead noted that Real Madrid and Barcelona must work together to help each other. Their interests in recent years have been united ever since the proposal of a Superleague, while Perez helped finance Barcelona counterpart Laporta’s return to power. Laporta is part of the Negreira case as a witness rather than a suspect.
And who is going to pursue punishment for RM, for all the cheating they’ve been doing…
What a club…
Can you state or list out the cheating or corruption scandals or cases involving Real Madrid, please
Are you blind? Or is it because you’re a RM fan so you want to act ignorant?
Beating Liverpool twice in CL finals does not count as cheating.
Typical EPL fan deluding themselves to justify their own short coming by accusing Real Madrid of unjustly acquiring their wealth, power and footballing prowess. We have titles because we play winning football and money because it is smartly earned. Power comes naturally because of the earlier two… and also because we are REAL MADRID.
What a delusional fan base! It’s not surprising though seeing as you support RM.
Be realistic and use your brains, you’re old enough
Proof, degenerate! Do you speak English?
On topic, disgrace of a club and everyone who supports it should be ashamed.
No teams on the earth is as shameful as Barcelona FC
Look at you! Do they have evidence?
Any proof for your statements, degenerate?
No less than prison for implicated and years of expulsion for the dirty and classless Catalan club!
Real madrid is bigger than any small club in this world, hala madrid
The payments are strange and suspicious. Barcelona claims the payments are for consultancy work, more specifically reports on referee tendencies and performances. What is the need for this? Why make payments to an individual Mr Negreira rather than the organisation CTA the custodian of such reports if they are actually in existence. The man’s son also queried his father for collecting such money. The truth must be established and all culprits punished including Barcelona if found culpable.
I also support the idea of strictest possible punishment, also looking inte possibilty of voiding the trophies won during the period as they clearly were achieved with fraud.
That shows how much Real Madrid are scared of barcelona they always want to invent things on barcelona i think they should be investigated for corruption because most of the trophies they won were given to them from referees. They think that they are untouchable STUPID CLUB
We beat Real Madness 4 times last season.They are angry. They lost 5-2 yesterday. Real Madness must bring evidence not madness.