"They want to harm football" - Barcelona president slams Real Madrid after recent complaint to UEFA in Negreira case
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has hit out at Real Madrid for their complaint to UEFA over the Negreira case. The sides remain embroiled in a feud stemming from suspicious payments from the Catalan club to referee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, which Los Blancos have urged UEFA to investigate.
In a statement revealed by Tribal Football, Laporta has accused his rivals of knowingly trying to discredit not just his team, but football as a whole. The Catalan outfit have claimed in the past that the payments were for technical refereeing reports, advice, and analysis, while Negreira claimed that the payments were made to ensure refereeing neutrality.
"Real Madrid have accused us in a crushing and constant way, trying to discredit and damage the image of Barca. But they will have to rectify, no matter how much they extend the summary to keep the flame alive.
They try to discredit Barca, but I don't think they do it innocently, but they want to harm football," he stated. Barcelona were revealed to have paid around £6.5 million in total to Negreira, who served as the vice-president of Spain's Technical Committee of Referees, between 2001 and 2018.
The payments were supposedly made to Negreira, and they stopped immediately after he left the position. Real Madrid compiled a dossier of 50,000 pages and sent it to UEFA, asking that investigations be reopened into the dealings of their rivals with Negreira.
They want Barca to be stripped of nine La Liga titles that they picked up during the period of the investigation, with Florentino Perez claiming that his club were robbed of the titles. Barcelona, Real Madrid pursuing deal for JJ Gabriel: Reports Barcelona and Real Madrid are leading the race for the signature of 16-year-old wonderkid JJ Gabriel, as per reports.
The youngster issued an official request for Manchester United to cancel his registration last month ahead of signing scholarship terms with the Premier League side. According to Spanish outlet Bernabeu Digital, Real Madrid are prepared to match the demands of the 16-year-old and could move for him very soon.
He is expected to cost a total of around €15 million, and the Spanish giants would be happy to pay up for him to join them. Barcelona have also been strongly linked with the teenager, who reportedly visited Catalunya shortly after his exile from Manchester United began.
He has yet to decide on his next move, as the Red Devils remain hopeful of keeping him.