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FC Barcelona Considers Legal Action Over Florentino Pérez's Accusations

From Cooperativa · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • FC Barcelona is considering legal action against Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez following his accusations of corruption.
  • Pérez accused Barcelona of enriching referees and consistently benefiting from biased officiating, referencing the Negreira case.
  • The case involves payments made by Barcelona to a former vice-president of the Referees' Technical Committee, with prosecutors suspecting an attempt to influence officiating.

The long-standing rivalry between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid has erupted into a new legal battleground, fueled by explosive accusations from Real Madrid's president, Florentino Pérez. Barcelona has announced it is meticulously studying legal recourse against Pérez after he publicly accused the Catalan club of corruption and manipulating referees.

Pérez, in a press conference, did not hold back, labeling the situation the "biggest corruption case in the history of football." He alleged that Barcelona "always comes out benefiting" from referees' decisions and suggested that other teams have been harmed. He urged UEFA to intervene, stating that "football's most important league cannot be in the hands of corruption paid for 20 years."

In reference to the press conference called by the president of Real Madrid, Florentino Pérez, we inform that our legal department is carefully studying his statements and accusations. These are currently being analyzed and the next steps are being evaluated.

· FC BarcelonaIn an official statement responding to Florentino Pérez's accusations.

This dramatic escalation stems from the ongoing Negreira case, which investigates substantial payments made by FC Barcelona over nearly two decades (2001-2018) to José María Enríquez Negreira, a former vice-president of Spain's Referees' Committee. While prosecutors suspect these payments, totaling over seven million euros, were intended to influence refereeing decisions, Barcelona maintains they were for technical reports and advisory services concerning referees.

FC Barcelona's legal department is now carefully analyzing Pérez's statements and accusations. The club's swift reaction, communicated through an official statement, indicates their intent to defend their reputation vigorously. This move by Barcelona, as reported by Cooperativa (Chile), reflects the deep divisions and intense scrutiny surrounding Spanish football, where accusations of bias and corruption can have profound implications for club standing and fan loyalty.

Barça always comes out benefiting, but there are other teams that have also been harmed and tell me about it. Let's be serious and let UEFA step in, because it cannot allow the most important football to be in the hands of corruption paid for 20 years.

· Florentino PérezAccusing FC Barcelona of corruption and benefiting from biased refereeing during a press conference.
About this summary

Originally published by Cooperativa in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.