Explained: Why Referee Payments Made by Barcelona Were for ‘Self-Defence’
- Ex-Barcelona presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell have maintained the club's innocence amid the refereeing scandal
- The Catalan giants have been slapped with corruption charges over payments made to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira
- There have been accusations that Barcelona gained advantages on the pitch as a result of the payments made to the ex-La Liga refereeing chief
Former Barcelona presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell have reportedly justified payments made to former Spanish refereeing chief Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.
Barca have been accused of making payments for a period of 17 years to Negreira, who was La Liga’s vice president of the Technical Committee for Referees between 1994 and 2018.
Source: Twitter
Negreira, the second-in-command of the La Liga refereeing body, received payments from the Catalan giants between 2001 to 2018, per FTB.
In their defence, the club insist that the payments made to Negreiga were made to obtain scouting reports on referees in the league and were completely legal.
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Explaining the rationale behind the payments, the ex-presidents Bartomeu and Rosell were convinced that La Liga referees favoured Real Madrid, so they wanted to make things 'more neutral'.
"The payments [to the vice-president of the referee committee] were carried out in self-defence," Josep Bartomeu, Sandro Rosell and some other former Barcelona directors have revealed as quoted by Tribuna.
Laporta addresses referee scandal
Meanwhile, current Barcelona president Joan Laporta has broken his silence amid the corruption scandal which has rocked the Catalan giants.
The Blaugrana have been charged with 'continued sporting corruption' in regard to payments made to the former vice president of Spain's refereeing committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.
Despite the charges and Madrid's decision to take legal action for what they called "serious accusations" by prosecutors, Barca president Joan Laporta insists his club is innocent.
Mourinho hints at biased refereeing
Sports Brief also reported that amid the ongoing scandal, a clip of former Real Madrid manager Jose Mourinho suggesting Barca's successes, especially in the Champions League, were aided by biased referee calls has resurfaced.
The fire-brand tactician pointed out a sea of controversial calls that helped Barcelona progress in Europe's premier club competition between 2008 and 2011.
"Why didn't the referee call four clear penalties for Chelsea? Why were Motta and Van Persie sent off? Why? Where does this power come from? Pep won a Champions League in a way that I would be embarrassed to win," Jose said, as quoted by IM.
Source: SportsBrief.com