Khaberni - Juan Laporta, the resigning president of Barcelona, defends his club in the famous Negreira case, indicating that the biggest scandal is that of their rival, Real Madrid.
Barcelona still faces accusations of making financial payments to José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees of the Spanish Football Federation, during the period from 2000 to 2018.
Juan Laporta released his book "How We Saved Barcelona" on Monday, which will be available in bookstores starting February 24.
In his book, Laporta addresses the Negreira case and explains how he dealt with this issue during his presidency, affirming that Barcelona committed no violations.
The newspaper "Marca" revealed that Laporta mentioned in his book: "There is no evidence that the payments made by Barcelona to companies associated with the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees influenced the selection of referees or altered the results of matches."
He added: "I invite everyone who accuses us of referee corruption so lightly and dismissively to specify the match, goal, play, or the alleged act of favoritism that supposedly occurred as a result of this technical advice."
Recently, Florentino Perez, president of Real Madrid, described the Negreira case as the biggest scandal in the history of world football and called for the courts to achieve justice and punish Barcelona for its actions.
In his book, Laporta responded similarly saying: "It’s worth noting that for nearly 7 decades, almost continuously, the heads of the referees’ committees, under their various titles, were Real Madrid fans, former players, or former managers, and in some cases, they combined these three qualities."
He continued: "In other words, for 70 years, members of Real Madrid, former players, or former managers, appointed the referees who were supposed to manage all the matches of La Liga and the King’s Cup. Undoubtedly, this was the biggest scandal in the history of Spanish football."
Laporta concluded saying: "The club will assist, as it has in recent years, the representatives of the judiciary in everything necessary to clarify the facts, because Barcelona is most interested in resolving the case, as the club’s image and reputation are at stake because of that orchestrated campaign."
