The Negreira case: The biggest scandal in football history or just a rival's "filthy" obsession?

Joan Laporta has slammed Real Madrid for falsely accusing the club of bribing match officials. (Image credits – Heute, Licence Details)

The Negreira case in La Liga has stirred a huge storm in Spain in recent times, accusing FC Barcelona of bribing Jose Enriquez Negreira, former vice president of the Referee’s Technical Committee, and is under investigation.

The Catalan giants have slammed these accusations and stated that the payments made between 2001 and 2018 were for reports on referees and scouting reports, not for bribing the match officials. So far, no evidence of any wrongdoing has been found during the investigation of this case.

Arch-rivals Real Madrid have continuously released press statements and even videos accusing the Catalans of this case. President Florentino Perez has also criticised the defending league champions in recent weeks.

Perez and co. have demanded FC Barcelona present their financial documents and audit reports in court while also demanding financial compensation for the damages between 2001 and 2018.

Barça president Joan Laporta hit back at Perez for defamation in a press conference, saying,

"I imagine that you know who I am referring to, those who are the architects of permanent campaigns to discredit our crest and our essence, and we will not allow this," he fired. (sic)

He further added, "They are the ones who confuse power with despotism, which is not enlightened. They are the ones who practise cynicism and a disproportionate arrogance. They are the ones who have a trashy television channel that only spews lies and constantly and permanently poisons.” (sic)

Pep Guardiola defends his former club over false Negreira case accusations 

Former FC Barcelona midfielder and manager Pep Guardiola has defended his boyhood club and the current president, Joan Laporta, from constant accusations from Florentino Perez over the Negreira case.

Guardiola stated that his side were completely dominant and superior to other teams, defining an era of football, and labelling it as a scandal should be a disgrace.

Pep Guardiola came out in support of FC Barcelona over Negreira accusations. (Image credits – Heute, Licence Details)

“We won everything because we were much better than our rivals,” said Pep. (sic)

The Man City boss praised the club's successful years under his management and dismissed all sorts of accusations made by Los Blancos over any bribery.

“You are very young, and you haven’t seen how we played football. It was incredible how we played,” he replied to the journalist, annoyed. (sic)

Guardiola’s Barcelona had won 3 La Liga titles, 2 Copa del Rey titles, 3 Super Cup titles, 2 Champions League titles and 2 UEFA Super Cup titles, which included the iconic sextuple-winning season as well.