REAL MADRID CONFIRM ‘URGENT’ MEETING TO DISCUSS BARCELONA’S CORRUPTION CHARGES
Real Madrid have officially commented on rivals Barcelona being levelled with charges of corruption.
Spanish prosecutors filed charges against Barcelona, as well as former club presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu, on Friday afternoon.
The charges relate to the now infamous Negreira scandal, in which Barça are alleged to have paid the former vice-president of Spain’s refereeing committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, for information and analysis on match officials in La Liga, with it now alleged that the club were hoping to receive favourable calls.
Reports in Spain claim Barcelona could be barred from entering the UEFA Champions League due to this indictment, though La Liga president Javier Tebas will not open a case against them unless they are proven guilty and any footballing punishment is unlikely.
In a statement released on Saturday, Real Madrid – who have been reported to have suspected foul play from Barcelona regarding officiating for years – confirmed that they will hold an urgent meeting to decide their own course of action.
The statement read: “Given the seriousness of the accusations made by the Barcelona Prosecutor’s Office against FC Barcelona and two of its presidents for well-founded suspicions of corruption and their relations with whoever was the vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the president has convened urgently to the Board of Directors tomorrow, Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 12:00 p.m., in order to decide on the actions that Real Madrid deems appropriate in relation to this matter.”
