Speaking on laSexta Wednesday night, Real Madrid President Pérez refused to back down from the aggressive claims he made during Tuesday’s press conference which implied that FC Barcelona was cheating in league trophy wins. When confronted with the fact that Barça is legally reviewing his recent accusations, Pérez didn’t flinch.
“Barça would do very well to sue me. If they think they have to do it, let them do it,” he said. However, he did try to soften his earlier claim about referees “enriching themselves,”
calling it a figure of speech.
The crux of Pérez’s argument is the so-called Negreira case. Barcelona has admitted to paying a the VP of the Technical Committee of Referees (José María Enríquez Negreira) in the past, causing a firestorm of legal trouble. It’s an ongoing court case where the truth is murky at the moment. No public evidence has proven that referees were bribed or influenced by the payments – but the club has not been exonerated of the charge, either.
Despite Barça’s insistence that the payments were for legitimate technical reports, Pérez alleged those reports were a cover “to fight against Madrid, with reports that do not exist.”
Before this latest interview aired, Barça vice president Rafa Yuste had already labeled Pérez’s behavior as “pathetic and full of falsehoods.” The club is reportedly meticulously studying legal avenues to protect its honor.
These latest attacks come just as Real Madrid was swatted away 2-0 by Barcelona to win the league title, in a title clinching version of El Clasico. Barcelona were full of joy as Madrid was in chaos, with reports that players had come to blows in training.
Yuste didn’t mince words, suggesting the Real Madrid president was attempting a “maneuver to cover up a sporting disaster.”
But Pérez is leaning hard into the conspiracy angle as he prepares for early elections at the Santiago Bernabéu. He revealed that his club is compiling a massive dossier documenting supposed refereeing bias. He claimed he has even discussed this with Aleksander Ceferin, stating the UEFA president had agreed that Madrid was within their rights to issue the complaint.
While Pérez has put the Negreira case at the center of his complaints, his allegations go beyond the scope of that case. Payments to Negreira ceased about 8 years ago, but the Madrid president is complaining about decisions up to the current day.
The Madrid president claimed that “18 points were stolen in a blatant way” this season alone. He branded the referee committee and La Liga itself as “complicit” and labeled them as enemies of Real Madrid.
