Laporta: ‘Everyone knows Real Madrid have historically been favored by refereeing mistakes’

Barcelona President Juan Laporta gave a press conference on the “Negreira case” and stressed that the team had been the victim of defamation, while not failing to attack Real who were taking legal action against the Catalan club.

We remind you that former Spanish referee and member of the Spanish Referees Committee Enriques Negreira allegedly received almost 7,000,000 euros from Barcelona from 2001 to July 2018, with Blaugrana claiming that this money gave them an advisory role in an arbitration have been matters but are now in review status.

And this because there are allegations that Negreira used this money to, among other things, gift referees and ensure preferential treatment towards the Catalan team.

“Barcelona fans have been suffering from a smear campaign that has nothing to do with reality for the past two months.

We are a sports model. We win thanks to commitment and talent. When we do that, we celebrate together and when we lose, we make no excuses. We like to win. And we like to win by playing well, without refereeing.

We received criticism, sometimes out of envy, which is now coming back. I already said when the “Negreira case” came out that it was no coincidence.

I hired experts and an outside agency to create a report. I now have more information and can now confirm that Barcelona never did anything nor did they intend to manipulate the result to gain an advantage.

The tax authority could not prove that the payments made could have influenced any result. And they couldn’t prove it because it wasn’t possible.

Let’s let justice take its course. The allegations must be proven in court. We live under the rule of law with the principle of the presumption of innocence, which Barcelona didn’t have after being publicly lynched without a trial.

We were charged before we were convicted and I demand accountability. There are people who have shown great irresponsibility.

Everyone knows that Real are a club historically favored by refereeing mistakes, the club of the regime. For seven decades, referee presidents have been ex-Madrid members, ex-players or ex-managers.

Sometimes all at once. For 70 years it was up to those who appointed the arbitrators to ensure justice”.