‘Millions in Damages’—Real Madrid ‘Launch Legal Action’ Against Barcelona

Barcelona paid €8.4 million to companies linked to José María Enríquez Negreira for 17 years.

Real Madrid vs. Barcelona is already a huge rivalry. / Alberto Gardin/NurPhoto/Getty Images

Real Madrid hope to claim “millions in damages” from Barcelona as Los Blancos pursue legal action over the unresolved ‘Negreira Case’ the Catalans are fighting in court, a report has revealed.

The scandal that came to light in 2023 centers on €8.4 million ($9.9 million) in payments made by Barcelona to companies linked to José María Enríquez Negreira, once a La Liga referee and former vice-president of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees (CTA).

Those payments were made over a 17-year period from 2001–2018. And while public official bribery charges were dropped in 2024 because Negreira was not considered one, the investigation continued under the guise of sports corruption instead.

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Barcelona have always denied the payments were anything to do with allegations of ‘buying’ referees, with Negreira instead hired as a ‘consultant’ providing reports on youth players from rival clubs and reports related to professional refereeing.

AS reports that, on Christmas Eve, Real Madrid filed a legal request for Barcelona invoices, audits and due diligence reports from 2010–2021, plus budgets from 2010–2018. In total, it is a request for 625 documents to understand where the €8.4 million in question actually went and what it did.

But Real Madrid want more than to simply have such answers about whether there really was any “buying of influence.” It is suggested the club “will not stop,” seeking damages on top. It’s the idea that, if Barcelona did have any corrupt favor from some referees, their on-field success was linked to it, thereby having unfair consequences for Madrid and associated revenues.

Barcelona officials are fighting the Negreira Case in court. / Alberto Paredes/Europa Press/Getty Images

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‘Justice Will be Done’

The warning from former Real Madrid captain Lucas Vázquez is that “justice will be done” in the Negreira Case as more and more details begin to emerge.

“Little by little, the truth is coming out and we are seeing what happened during Negreira’s years. Sooner or later, justice will be done,” Vázquez told AS. “It is something that must be considered and punished … But, of course, it is not normal. It is not normal.”

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