Barcelona hit back at Florentino Perez's 'grotesque' rant as referee conspiracies continue

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FT Desk

Barcelona president Joan Laporta has responded to Florentino Perez's astonishing rant about the state of Real Madrid and Spanish football.

Last week, the Real Madrid president called a press conference and claimed that the club should have won 14 La Liga titles during his presidency, insisting that seven were “taken” from them and claiming refereeing decisions had cost the club 18 points this season.

He said: “I’ve only won seven league titles, which could have been 14 because they’ve been stolen from me,” and added: “The referees have stolen 18 points from us in La Liga.”

Perez presented the remarks as part of a wider criticism of Spanish officiating, linking the issue to Barcelona and the long-running Negreira case.

Barcelona responded with the following statement:

"Regarding the press conference called by Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez, we inform you that our legal department is carefully reviewing his statements and accusations. These are currently being analysed, and the next steps are being assessed. We will provide further information on our position and any decisions made when appropriate."

Laporta was recently asked about Perez rant and the Barca president claims his counterpart is simply trying to divert attention away from the fact that Real Madrid are trophyless for the second season in a row.

”I think it was farcical, but it was strategic" he said at the Koeman Cup.

"It was meant to divert attention from two years without winning anything, and this has them very worried.

“Somehow, they have to justify the unjustifiable, and the best way is to stir up trouble and throw everything at Barcelona. We’re not going to allow this. I’m sure we at the club will react.

“As long as they don’t use Barça to cover up their problems, I respect him. When they use Barça, we react. In that press conference, they tried to use Barça in a grotesque way, spreading falsehoods about a certain issue, stating things that aren’t true.”

Barcelona have been crowned La Liga champions for the second season in a row and the final round of fixtures in the Spanish top flight takes place this weekend.

What is the Negreira case

Barcelona have been ordered by a Spanish court to provide every and all documents relating to €7 million worth of payments made to one Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira - the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA).

The payments to Negreira were made between 2001 and 2018.

The situation was then exacerbated as investigators found that there was no paper trail available for these payments. If there once was a paper trail, it has been lost.

Barcelona allege that these payments were made for consulting purposes as Negreira provided them with scouting reports on referees.

Real Madrid and president Florentino Perez demanded an inquiry into the payments and they have been the main pursuers of alleged justice.

“Three years ago, we learned about the Negreira Case," Perez said at the press conference.

"The biggest scandal in history. They’ve been paying for two decades, but now it’s the same referees for this third decade. We will present a substantial dossier to UEFA so they can tackle this issue at its root and resolve the case for the good of world football.

“We’re preparing a 500-page dossier that I’ll send to UEFA when the competition is over. I’ve already spoken with them. There’s no precedent for this in the history of world football. It’s the biggest corruption case ever.

“The Real Madrid members are with me in my fight against Negreira case. It’s not always Real Madrid that suffers; other teams do too. Barca always benefits. Let’s see if UEFA gets involved in this matter. I didn’t come here so that the referees could get rich off Barcelona’s money.”

Barcelona have maintained their innocence throughout the investigation and president Joan Laporta typically swung the spotlight back onto Real Madrid, alluding to the club's alleged close relationship with referees historically.