Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez is not letting up on his offensive against Barcelona in the Negreira case after his and Joan Laporta’s positions distanced themselves from Super League and La Liga president Javier Tebas. He attacked hard during his speech to the assembly of representative members on November 23 and did so again this Monday when he spoke to the media at the club’s traditional Christmas cocktail: “Christmas is also a time to reflect on the things that concern us. And in our case, I tell you categorically that Real Madrid’s biggest concern is the refereeing situation in Spain.” In his speech he did not mention the crisis of the game and the results of the football team, nor the doubts that it generated about the fate of Xabi Alonso.
He is particularly concerned about the case in which Laporta testified before the judge on Friday as a witness after his status as an investigator was withdrawn, the possible crimes that could be attributed to him having expired. “The situation is very serious after what happened for almost two decades in the Negreira case. Above all, it is indisputable and obligatory that justice be done. And I remind you that Real Madrid is the only club fighting for this.” No one else has appeared in this case, in which La Liga and the Royal Spanish Football Federation, under whose command the arbitration government falls, are participating. One of his regrets was the “passivity” with which, according to him, these accusations behaved during Laporta’s statement, to whom they barely asked a question.
“It is completely incomprehensible that football institutions have left Real Madrid alone in this fight,” he said. “How is it possible that the chairman of referees asks us to forget this and move on? But how are we going to forget the biggest scandal in the history of world football? We never will.”
Pérez’s change of tone in the last meeting irritated Laporta: “They are present at all times in the legal process of the Negreira case, and they stretch it like a piece of chewing gum because they know there is nothing. But it is a way of justifying something that is not true: Barça has never bought a referee and Barça generally does not favor referees. They have favored Madrid all their life.” Last year, the tone of the Madrid president was very different: “I am not going to get angry with Barça,” he declared. “Barça and Madrid must help each other.” Until the alliance is broken.
Pérez maintains the offensive in the courts and continues to mature the front of FIFA, with whose president, Gianni Infantino, he has had conversations in recent months about the case, which, despite the time that has passed, would still be heard before the highest instance of world football. In addition to these conversations, Madrid has for some time been preparing a detailed report in which it aims to summarize what, from its point of view, has happened with arbitration in Spain over the last two decades.
They believe that the almost eight million euros paid by Barcelona over at least 17 years to the vice-president of arbitration, José María Enríquez Negreira, still has consequences through what they call “Negreira’s children”. He cited an example from that same Sunday, during the match that Madrid played against Alavés in Mendizorroza: “We were officiated at VAR by a referee who threatened to take action against our club the day before an entire Cup final. Can you imagine this situation in another country?”, he said in reference to Pablo González Fuertes.
On April 25, on the eve of the classic for the cup title, the Asturian referee announced the actions of the refereeing team to respond to criticism from Real Madrid television: “We are going to have to start taking measures, much more serious than those that are being taken. We are not going to continue allowing what is happening to happen. In a few dates you may have news of what is happening. This (refereeing) team, together with the CTA, is going to make history, because we are not going to continue enduring what we are enduring.
Pérez regretted one of the decisions that came across González Fuertes’ screen at Las Rozas on Sunday, a kick from Tenaglia to Vinicius in the Alavés area on which they did not find a penalty, and about which Xabi Alonso also complained publicly at the end of the match. “As you saw yesterday (Sunday), or during our previous match in Girona, it seems that the movements suffered by Vinicius or Rodrygo during our last two outings are not penalties. This is the novelty of the referee this season”, quips the Madrid president.
Just an hour before Pérez’s new offensive against refereeing, Rafael Louzán, president of the RFEF, defended him during his assembly in Las Rozas: “It’s good that we transfer teams when the time comes to find another excuse. The referee is a professional who wants to do the best possible and human error exists. For refereeing to improve, we need the help of the clubs. We also need the role of coaches, because in the end it All that remains is noise and it is not favorable to the interests of football,” he declared.
He also sent a more direct message to Pérez: we had a meeting 15-20 days ago of the commission (for the reform of the arbitration system), in which all the elected officials are included, with the exception of Real Madrid, who did not participate. Pérez is wary of what could come out of this process promoted by the RFEF. He prefers that external bodies unrelated to the current system intervene, such as the court investigating the Negreira affair or FIFA, in whose protection he trusts.
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