Barcelona President Attacks Real Madrid’s ‘Underhand Tactics’

Barcelona have struck a minor victory in the ongoing Negreira case which delighted a defiant Joan Laporta.

Joan Laporta has taken a defiant stance on the Negreira case. | Luciano Lima/Getty Images

Barcelona president Joan Laporta took a defiant, triumphant tone when Real Madrid’s request to review the evidence in the ongoing Negreira case was dismissed this week, boasting about the failure of these “underhand tactics.”

Madrid and their president Florentino Pérez have taken a keen interest in the investigation into payments Barcelona allegedly made to José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the Spanish FA’s technical committee of referees, since it was first reported in 2023.

Pérez has publicly lambasted what he views to be a blatant form of corruption and Madrid tried to elbow their way into the investigation by demanding access to due diligence reports, forensic audits and broad reviews of Barcelona economic management. Judge Alejandra Gil Lima ruled against this proposed disclosure on Friday, much to Laporta’s satisfaction.

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What Is the Negreira Case?

Former Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu has found himself back in the spotlight. | David Zorrakino/Europa Press/Getty Images

The Negreira case, El Caso Negreira as it has been dubbed in Spain, boils down to a series of payments which total €8.4 million ($10 million at today’s exchange rates) made from 2001–18 to companies connected to the aforementioned José María Enríquez Negreira.

Barcelona have always maintained that they were simply acquiring “technical reports related to professional refereeing” which is supposedly a “common practice among professional football clubs.” The Catalan giants have always insisted that they “never bought any referee nor have tried to influence any official’s decisions.”

Real Madrid are unsurprisingly not convinced by those explanations. Pérez has been banging the drum of corruption since these irregular (and clandestine) payments were first brought to light by a tax inspection. “The situation is so serious after what happened in the Negreira Case for almost two decades. It all makes clear the need for a radical change in the structures of Spanish refereeing,” Real Madrid’s president declared in December.

The period of the Negreira payments coincided with a rich vein of form for Barcelona. Between 2001 and 2018, the club won nine league titles, four Champions Leagues and three Club World Cups. Laporta has always claimed that Barcelona’s rivals are using this as a way to denounce those achievements.

“FC Barcelona has never taken any action which was aimed at altering the competition to gain a sporting advantage,” Laporta reportedly told the court while giving testimony in December. “It’s clear that this is an orchestrated campaign to tarnish a glorious era in our history.”

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Laporta: Real Madrid Had Ulterior Motives for Request

Joan Laporta is not impressed with Real Madrid. | Pau Barrena/AFP/Getty Images

Speaking shortly after Real Madrid’s request to review the evidence in the case was swiftly rebuffed, Laporta claimed that the capital club were using this as a backdoor to gain insight into the inner workings of Barcelona’s finances.

“Real Madrid are involved in a way that I believe is improper because they are also using this procedure to try to obtain information from Barça that affects confidential matters, the club’s strategy and philosophy, and how the club is run,” he claimed.

“Their request was out of place, and the judge has ruled accordingly.

“Furthermore, they are in this proceeding to try to maintain an argument that they know is completely false, that has no basis whatsoever, and they are doing so to maintain the narrative they present on their television channel, when they know perfectly well that this is not true.

“I hope that the proceedings will be dismissed as soon as possible because there will be nothing to substantiate what the plaintiff is trying to prove, and Barça will never have done anything about altering the competition by trying to gain favoritism or refereeing advantages.

“That’s the way it is, and I’m glad the judge slammed the door in Madrid’s face and told them that this isn’t the system for gathering information on Barça and learning about their rivals. It’s about trying to be better than us. That’s what we try to do: be better by working, fighting, doing things the right way, not always resorting to underhand tactics and trying to gain an advantage.”

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