Joan Laporta levels stunning new accusations at Real Madrid amid Negreira case scrutiny on Barcelona

Deflecting the Negreira narrative

The Spanish public prosecutor is currently accusing Barcelona of sporting corruption because they paid companies linked to former Spanish Football Federation's Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) vice-president Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira €7–8 million over a 17-year period. Laporta, who is up for re-election against Victor Font, has strongly defended the Catalan giants. He insists the money was only for legitimate technical advice and that the intense legal pressure is part of a coordinated plan from Madrid to undermine the club.

Seventy-two years of alleged influence

Speaking to Cadena Cope, Laporta shifted the focus onto Barca's fierce rivals, questioning the impartiality of the footballing authorities by highlighting Madrid's historical ties to the Referees Committee. "Don’t you think it’s shameful that for 72 years the committee was run by Real Madrid members?" Laporta asked. "All members. Isn’t that shameful? It was referee advice, not sports corruption. But you never ask them questions about that; stop playing with me."

'What Barca did was legal'

People also asked Laporta about one of his slogans, "against it all and against everyone." He brought up Madrid's ties to the CTA again.

“Against all odds and against everyone is an expression to illustrate what has been happening to us at Barca for years," Laporta continued. "The club was dominated, subjugated. It was under intervention; they were allowed to do certain things with the intention of reaching this point. The exorbitant contracts weren’t subject to any economic oversight.

“We were up against a smear campaign orchestrated from Madrid regarding the Negreira case. What Barca did was legal, it was done very well. At that time, they were paying a company – we’ve already come across it – that produced referee reports to analyse the referees’ performance. I’m sure Real Madrid did the same. Now Real Madrid has Megia Davila, the wife of the Referees’ Committee.

“Doesn’t that seem disgraceful to you? It seems perfectly normal to you. Maybe they didn’t need to hire refereeing experts because they were already doing it, even better. Didn’t you realise that in Madrid or what? Is what Barca does disgraceful? Wasn’t what Madrid did disgraceful?”

A club under siege

The immediate priority for Laporta is securing victory in Sunday’s pivotal presidential election against Font. Whoever takes the helm will face the monumental task of navigating the ongoing public prosecutor’s investigation into the Negreira payments while stabilising the club's precarious finances. On the pitch, Barcelona are preparing to face Newcastle United in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie, which is scheduled to take place at St James' Park on Tuesday.