Barcelona Confident of Avoiding Champions League Ban by UEFA Amid Corruption Case

• Barcelona are optimistic they will escape getting banned from the UEFA Champions League next season
• UEFA is investigating Barcelona after allegations were made against the club for making illegal payments to referees
• Barcelona have continued to maintain their innocence in the corruption scandal

Barcelona are unperturbed by the news of UEFA might likely ban them from the Champions League following allegations of making illegal payments to a former referee official in Spain.

It was claimed that Barcelona made several payments to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of Spain's refereeing committee, for match official information and analysis.

UEFA had threatened to throw the Catalan giants out of its competition including the Champions League after it opened its own investigation into the allegations.

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However, 90MIN reports that Barcelona are 'confident' that UEFA will not hit them with a ban or financial penalty as they continued to plead their innocence on the corruption scandal.

Barcelona believes that any punishment from UEFA could be legally reversed or challenged if they are found not guilty by Spanish courts.

Barcelona asked to pay €50m for wonderkid

Meanwhile, Barcelona is expected to pay €50 million to secure 85 percent of the rights to Brazilian wonderkid Vitor Roque in the summer, The Hard Tackle reports.

The teen sensation was recently in action as Brazil won the Under-20 South American Championships. And the Brazilian wonderkid has since returned to Athletico-PR, where he has scored three goals in four games.

Roque has emerged as a viable target for Barcelona. The 18-year-old Brazilian wonderkid has the potential to be a long-term solution for Barcelona in the final third.

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Barcelona set to face UCL ban

Earlier, Sports Brief reported the governing body of European football UEFA wants to punish Barcelona by barring them from the Champions League for an indefinite period of time.

Barcelona has been accused of making payments totalling more than €7 million to the former vice President of the Spanish Technical Committee of Referees, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, from 2001 to 2018.

UEFA will request that Barcelona are banned from European competitions such as the Champions League for multiple years if the Spanish club is found guilty of the allegations.