Systemic corruption by Barcelona or a smear campaign led by Real Madrid? 'The Negreira Case' that continues to poison Spain's Clasico rivalry

On Wednesday, February 15, 2023, the Cadena SER radio show 'Què t'hi jugues' disclosed details from documents related to an ongoing investigation by Spanish tax authorities into a filing made by DASNIL 95, a company part-owned by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, that included the receipt of payments from FC Barcelona between 2016 and 2018 worth approximately €1.4 million (£1.2m/$1.6m).

During the two-year period in question, Negreira was vice-president of the Spanish Football Federation's (RFEF) technical committee of referees (CTA) and, according to his testimony to the tax authorities, which was leaked to several other publications, he received money from Barcelona "to make sure no refereeing decisions were made against them, which is to say, for everything to be neutral".

Former Barca president Josep Maria Bartomeu told Cadena SER that the payments to DASNIL 95 dated back to at least 2003, but that they stopped in June 2018 - when Negreira left the CTA - as part of cost-cutting measures at the Catalan club.

Barcelona promptly issued a statement in response to the report, revealing that it was already "aware of the investigations into payments of external companies", and keen to make five things clear:

"1. In the past FC Barcelona hired the services of an external consultant that supplied the club's technical secretaries with reports in video format of youth players from other clubs in Spain.

"2. Additionally, the relationship with that supplier extended to technical reports related to professional refereeing in order to complement the information requested by the first and second team coaching staff. This is a common practice among professional football clubs.

"3. These kinds of outsourced services are now the duty of a professional who works for the Football Department.

"4. FC Barcelona is sorry that this information has been released precisely when the team has hit its best form of the season.

"5. FC Barcelona shall be taking legal actions against those who are trying to tarnish the club's image with possible insinuations against its good reputation that could be caused by the release of such information."

Former Barca president Bartomeu claimed that it was Negreira's son, Javier Enriquez Romero, who compiled the refereeing reports in question, while current Barcelona president Joan Laporta told La Vanguardia: "It is false and absurd to think that we paid off any referee." The following day, La Liga president Javier Tebas revealed that while there was a very clear conflict of interest at play, Barcelona would not suffer any sporting sanctions because the case fell outside the three-year statute of limitations law.

"It is evident that in 2018 and in previous years the 'compliance' regulations which monitor conflicts of interest, both for Barcelona and the referee's committee, failed," Tebas said. "From what we are seeing, what's been revealed in the media, they obviously didn't work as these services should never have been provided - neither the amounts of money, nor the facts which have been unveiled.

"We must clarify from the outset, we have already looked into [sporting sanctions] - it is not possible to impose sports disciplinary sanctions because five years have already passed. Criminal jurisdiction is another issue. Now the prosecutor's office is investigating the events that occurred and whether there may be a possible crime of corruption between individuals in terms of match-fixing.

"Let's see how that investigation ends. At La Liga, we are going to wait and respect the prosecutor's office investigation, and once that has finished, see whether it decides to file the appropriate complaint or lawsuit in the corresponding courts. From there, we will make decisions."

On February 17, El Mundo claimed that Barca's payments to DASNIL 95 actually began in 2001, during Joan Gaspart's reign as president, continued - and were even increased - under his successors (Entric Reyna, Laporta, Sandro Rosell and Bartomeu), and totalled €6.65m (£5.6m/$7.5m) without tax.

The newspaper had also obtained a burofax sent by Negreira to Bartomeu in February 2019 threatening to "cause a scandal" by going public with all of the "irregularities" unless payments to DASNIL 95 were resumed.

On March 7, 2023, Laporta emphatically refuted allegations that Barcelona were guilty of corruption and effectively accused La Liga of holding a grudge against the Catalans for their involvement in the failed European Super League (ESL) breakaway.

"The club has never been involved in buying referees nor has it ever intended to do so," he declared. "The overwhelming evidence contradicts those who want to change the narrative, and nothing is by chance. La Liga has not accepted that the contract with CVC was not signed (a proposed deal between the Spanish top-flight and the private equity firm), and the fact that the club has joined the Super League hasn't helped either."

Laporta also lashed out at Tebas in particular: "He has to look after the interests of all clubs, and I don't understand how he sometimes lets slip comments that are part of our confidentiality. And in the past, he has also had a series of actions that demonstrate a certain obsession with Barca."

Three days later, though, Spanish prosecutors filed a complaint against Barcelona, Rosell and Bartomeu which claimed that the club paid €2.9m (£2.5m/$3.25m) to firms owned by Negreira between 2014 and 2018 alone, and that more than €7.3m (£6.2m/$8.2m) was transferred in total.

All four parties, and two other Barcelona officials, Oscar Grau and Albert Soler, stood accused of corruption in sports, unfair administration and false business records, by entering into a "confidential verbal agreement with the accused Negreira, so that, in his capacity as vice-president of the CTA and in exchange for money, he would carry out actions tending to favour FCB in the decision-making of the referees in matches that the club played, and thus in the results of competitions."

On April 3, 2023, La Vanguardia published a piece claiming that Tebas had presented false evidence to the public prosecutor investing the Negreira case in the form of a letter found at the home of the deceased former Barcelona director Josep Contreras, who received the refereeing reports from Negreira's son, Javier. That latter featured the names 'Rosell' and 'Josep Maria' but Contreras' family subsequently pointed out that these were references to Roman Rosell, an accountant, and an employee at Banca Catalana.

However, Tebas reacted angrily to the suggestion that he had inferred that he had tried to use the letter as proof of the involvement of Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu in the Negreira case.

"The HEADLINE of La Vanguardia is FALSE," he wrote on social media. "We do NOT accuse anyone. The news itself corroborates that by pointing out what the letter to the prosecutor said: “nor does this letter imply the exercise of a specific accusation against anyone". Mr. Conde Godo (La Vanguardia's owner), keep an eye on your JOURNALISTS who slander!"

Barcelona, though, called on Tebas to resign - just over a month after La Liga's president had said Laporta should resign if he could not provide an adequate explanation for the payments to Negreira's company.

"Given the gravity of the information that has appeared today Monday in La Vanguardia in which La Liga president Javier Tebas is linked to the presentation of false evidence to the public prosecutor to incriminate our club, FC Barcelona wishes to expresses its deepest indignation, anger and dismay," read a Blaugrana statement.

"For that reason, we urgently require the La Liga president to appear in public to explain himself, beyond the tweet sent in the early hours by Mr. Tebas, lacking substance and with a threatening tone. FC Barcelona, as president Joan Laporta repeated in recent weeks, feels itself to be the victim of a media campaign for events that never took place: Barca has never paid referees.

"This harassment involves a group of media outlets and opinion writers with varying degrees of intent, and with La Liga fanning the flames behind the scenes against our club, with contributions from its president who has only gone in one direction: trying to condemn us in the public's eyes before the facts have been judged.

"It is not the first time that the president of La Liga has used the media weapons at his disposal to damage FC Barcelona, however, in contrast to his usual nonsense, we could never have imagined that he could try to incriminate our club with false evidence.

"The article published today by La Vanguardia is of such gravity that it should put all the clubs in La Liga on alert, given that it talks of practices which are in no way consistent with the job of the president of La Liga. If only for this fact, that of giving himself powers that do not belong to him, although also for reasons of dignity and respect for the presidency of La Liga, Mr. Tebas should resign from his post.

"Nevertheless, aware of his obsession with persecuting FC Barcelona and showing his constant averse and manifest dislike of our club, we understand that the current La Liga president will persist in his efforts to keep damaging our club."

UEFA opened their own investigation into the affair in March 2023 and, on the same day that La Vanguardia accused Tebas of providing false information to prosecutors, Alexsandar Ceferin publicly commented on the Negreira Case for the first time.

“It is so serious that, in my opinion, it is one of the most serious in football that I have ever seen,” the UEFA president told Slovenian newspaper Ekipa. "But I cannot comment directly on this for two reasons: Firstly, because we have an independent disciplinary committee in charge of this; And, secondly, because I have not dealt with this matter in detail."

However, Ceferin did confirm that UEFA would not be restricted by any statute of limitations in relation to the case. “At the level of [La Liga], of course, the matter is time-barred and can have no competitive consequences," he acknowledged. "But the proceedings are ongoing at the level of prosecutors and, as far as UEFA is concerned, there is nothing time-barred."

By this point, 18 of La Liga's clubs, and all 22 of the teams in the Segunda Division, had signed a joint-statement condemning the payments to DASNIL 95. However, Real Madrid went further, entering the case as a damaged party - much to the fury of Laporta.

"When this controversy started, what quickly became clear is that it was a campaign against the reputation of Barcelona," he said. "FC Barcelona has never done any kind of activity with the intention of swinging the competition in our favour. We have never done anything with the intention of taking a sporting advantage.

"But we have suffered a public lynching. They have assumed we are guilty before we were judged fairly. This lynching is not deserved. Our good game is in play, as well as our credibility and that of the referees, and that of football.

"I also want to refer to the presence of a club, on its own, as a private accusation in the trial. A club that says it feels harmed. A club that has always been favoured by refereeing decisions. It has been considered the team of the regime. Because of their proximity to political and economic power.

"I think it is worth remembering that for seven decades, most of the presidents of the CTA have been ex-members, ex-players or ex-directors of Real Madrid. For 70 years, the people who appointed those who had to deliver justice on the pitch were ex-partners, ex-players or ex-directors of Real Madrid. In some cases, all this at the same time."

Madrid president Florentino Perez did not respond publicly to Laporta's comments, but the club's TV channel produced a near-five-minute video challenging Laporta's claim that Madrid were "the team of the regime" by arguing that it was Barca who actually had closer ties to General Francisco Franco, the infamous right-wing director who ruled Spain from 1939 until his death in 1975.

It was pointed out that the Blaugrana presented Franco with a number of medals and awards, and also alleged that he saved the Catalan club from bankruptcy on three separate occasions. The video also concluded with a quote from Santiago Bernabeu: "Whenever I hear Real Madrid described as 'the team of the regime', it makes me want to sh*t on the father of whoever says it."

In September 2023, police raided the offices of the RFEF in Madrid to gather evidence, but the judge assigned to the case, Joaquin Aguirre Lopez, stated that no proof had yet been found of Negreira paying referees to influence the outcome of games. However, before the month was out, it emerged that the former Barca officials being investigated - Rosell, Bartomeu, Grau and Soler, all of whom acknowledged the payments but denied any wrongdoing - were facing an additional charge of bribery because Negreira was deemed a public official at the time of the payments by Aguirre Lopez.

Meanwhile, then-Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola, who was Barca boss between 2008 and 2012, leapt to his former club's defence. "What I’m pretty sure (of) is when Barcelona won, it was because they were better than the opponents," he said. "We won because we were far better than our rivals. And when they are not, they don’t win, they lose. But justice will decide what really happened."

The incumbent coach, Xavi, also dismissed the idea that the club had ever received preferential treatment from officials, and insisted he was ignoring all of the speculation swirling around Camp Nou. "Next week there will be another Negreira story," the former midfielder said. "In 15 days another, and then more in another month."

The controversy was becoming too big to ignore, though, as it was revealed on October 18, 2023 that sitting Barca president Laporta had been indicted for alleged bribery, sports corruption, unfair administration and forgery relating to the payments made to Negreira between 2008 and 2010 during his first reign. According to a court order seen by El Periodico, the judge ruled that Laporta, and indeed all members of the Barca board, bore "an effective responsibility in making the decision to make the allegedly illicit payments" to Negreira and his son Javier.

Once again, though, Guardiola expressed his unwavering support for his former boss. "When there is a sentence, I will give you my opinion, but Barca is innocent, Laporta is innocent, until the opposite is proven," the Catalan said in a City press conference. "You didn’t see how good this team was. It was a scandal how well we played!"

On May 22, 2004, the bribery charges levelled at the defendants were dropped. Under Spanish law, bribery can only be said to have been committed if a public official has requested money or compensation in return for influencing decisions within their remit. However, the Barcelona court ultimately ruled that the RFEF is not a public body, meaning Negreira, the former vice-president of the federation's refereeing committee, could not be considered a public official.

"FC Barcelona hereby wishes to express its utter satisfaction with the sense of the resolution issued today by the Barcelona Court insofar as it confirms the defence presented by the club and rejects the hypothesis of the alleged crime of bribery," a club statement read. "We maintain our conviction that justice will prevail and the events pertaining to this indictment can be definitively clarified, thereby demonstrating the club's absolute innocence."

At this point, Negreira had been deemed unfit to participate in the judicial proceedings due to the worsening effects of his Alzheimer's, while his wife, Ana Paula Rufas, who was accused of money-laundering, exercised her right not to reply to any questions connected to €3m in undeclared income found in her accounts between 1992 and 2003 when she was questioned by the court in August 2024. However, in September 2025, both Bartomeu and Rosell discussed their respective roles in the case.

Bartomeu had previously told police that he had met with Negreira on six occasions but, according to Marca, he changed his story by claiming that only one of these encounters was a formal meeting.

"Enriquez Negreira asked me directly, and since I’m a polite person, I went," the ex-Barcelona president said. "I met him in his office, and he offered me his services. I didn’t think it was strange; at the club, they told me it was something normal and something that was being done."

Bartomeu also played down the significance of the burofax sent by Negreira threatening to go public with the details of the payments: “We had decided to cut ties with his son due to a budget issue, and I understand the anger over this family situation. I discussed it with the legal department, and they didn’t give it much thought."

Meanwhile, in his own testimony, Negreira's son Javier denied that the cessation of payments from Barcelona in June 2018 had anything to do with his father leaving the CTA. However, he also claimed that the money paid had "nothing to do with" the more than 600 reports he had written. Javier, who stands accused of money-laundering, may have been listed as an administrator in the companies that billed the Blaugrana, but he insisted that he wasn't in charge of any of them and that they were "the exclusive responsibility of my father".

"I never contacted or had any relationship with FC Barcelona due to my relationships with DASNIL 95, Nilsad, and Tresep," he said, according to El Espanol. "I wasn’t aware of FC Barcelona’s relationship with DASNIL 95 and Nilsad. When I saw [the figures paid by Barcelona], I couldn’t believe it. It was a lie. My conclusion is that FC Barcelona sought to distance itself from my father, Enriquez Negreira, using me as a pretext. I haven’t received any money from [the companies], and I wasn’t aware that it billed millions of euros to FC Barcelona. I had no role...

"Starting in 2000, the first jobs I did consisted of some videos they made for the CTA and its technical director Manuel Diaz Vega. I billed these videos to through DASIL 95 after my father insisted that I do so. The €7.5m that appears in the figures of the Tax Agency, in some sense, have nothing to do with my reports. When I found out about my father’s relationship with FC Barcelona, ​​I asked for an explanation. My father gave me the runaround and told me it was none of my business.

"I love my father and I’ve forgiven him and accepted everything that happened, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t an authoritarian and aggressive person. The exact words he said to me were: ‘What the f*ck do you care?’ This is what he said when he got defensive."

Rosell, meanwhile, strongly rejected the idea that Negreira could have swayed games in Barca's favour. "This man, in the CTA, had zero influence. Ze-ro. He had no influence at all," Rosell is quoted as saying by Cadena SER. "In the CTA, the one who has had influence has been the president. And historically, over these 70 years, I don’t know if always or most of the time, all the presidents of the CTA have declared themselves Real Madrid fans. The only one who has any influence at the CTA is the president, and he’s always been a Real Madrid fan."

Rosell allegedly added: "We’re going to watch and review all the matches, and have five referee experts come and tell us in which match the referee helped us. Let them come. Here they can’t say I’m closing the case for lack of evidence. Here the evidence is in favour of the accused. It’s the other way around.

"Let’s all sit down and watch the matches again. I’d love to. Maybe some people here wouldn’t like to watch it again. I’m sorry. But sometimes you don’t win. Sometimes you lose, and you have to accept that." Rosell also reportedly asked how Barcelona were meant to have bribed someone "with €250 per report?"

At the Real Madrid general assembly in November 2025, president Florentino Perez declared that the club would continue fighting against the perceived injustice. "It is not normal that Barcelona has paid the vice-president of the referees more than €8m for at least 17 years – whatever the reason," he said. "The vice-president of refereeing, who had important functions. A period that coincides, coincidentally, with Barcelona’s best results in our country.

"(Current president of the CTA) Fran Soto has asked us to turn the game. And he asks that we forget the 'Negreira Case'. But who will forget it? The reality is that most of the referees of the 'Negreira Case' are still there... It will remain forever.”

Perez also used statistics related to red cards as alleged proof of wrongdoing. "We will agree that expulsions imply the highest degree of subjectivity. Well, look... In the 21st century, Real Madrid has a negative balance of -2, 126 reds to our team and 124 to the rivals," he claimed.

"Barca’s is +61, 108 reds for them, and 169 for opponents. In Europe, on the other hand, we have the same balance, +12 for Barca and +13 for Real Madrid. The balance of expulsions during Negreira’s time, Barcelona’s balance was +49 and Real Madrid’s, -1. Draw your own conclusions..."

In December 2025, both Ernesto Valverde and Luis Enrique, two former Barca bosses, denied any knowledge of the refereeing reports, with the former insisting that they wouldn't have been necessary anyway, given the strength of his side. Luis Enrique, meanwhile, argued that this was nothing more than a classic case of sour grapes. "You already know that in football, when you win, they say the referees are helping you, and when you lose, that they were damaging you," the treble-winner argued.

Laporta, meanwhile, made a similar argument while claiming that the reports were not acquired to secure preferential treatment from referees in any way, shape or form.

"Barca was admired worldwide, an example and a benchmark in football - we didn’t need any favours," he told Sport after testifying as a witness. "I don’t know Negreira or anyone from his circle. I’ve never had any contact with them. I inherited those payments, I asked the sporting director, and they told us to proceed with the reports."

Laporta also revealed that the reports from his first spell as president no longer existed "because they were destroyed every five years", while at the same time explaining that the board was unaware of the reports because they did not need board approval as the individual payments did not exceed €150,000 (£127,000/$169,000).

In his Christmas address, Madrid president Perez wondered why the likes of Luis Enrique and Valverde weren't even aware of "the most expensive reports in the world". "Who can believe that millions of euros were paid for reports that apparently must have been useless?" he asked rhetorically. “Do not forget that the investigating judge in the case described it as systemic corruption and that in interviews several directors have admitted that these payments were beneficial to their club. Beneficial how? Certainly, their coaches have stated that they neither knew about nor needed these reports..."

Perez also lashed out at La Liga and claimed that Madrid were the only club "fighting for justice". "It is completely incomprehensible that football institutions have abandoned Real Madrid in this fight," he said. "How can the RFEF and La Liga, who are supposed to safeguard integrity, behave this way? What explains their inaction? I trust that one day we will find out. They have a duty to protect the integrity of the competition and not appear complicit in such a serious case.

“We are certain that we are not the only ones harmed. Furthermore, it is possible that some clubs have been relegated as a result of the 'Negreira Case'. The integrity and decency of our sport are at stake. The image of our football has been seriously damaged, and therefore justice must be served because only in this way can Spanish football be regenerated."

It didn't take long for Laporta to respond, with the Barca president using his speech at the club's Christmas dinner at the Palau Blaugrana to accuse Madrid of being "the ones that confuse power with despotism".

"They use bad practices and break every code of conduct - ethical, moral, and not just sporting," Laporta insisted, while also accusing Los Blancos leading a smear campaign against the Catalans through “a disgraceful television platform that does nothing but vomit lies and constantly poison public opinion". "This is something we will not allow," the Barca supremo added.

In February 2026, Tebas was once again forced to address the fact that Barca would face no sporting sanctions even if they were found guilty by insisting that his hands were tied. "I’ve advocated for much longer statutes of limitations for these types of crimes," he claimed. However, Tebas argued that it was "already clear that Barcelona didn’t pay referees", while he responded to the perception that it was Madrid leading the case against Barca by stating, "We were the first to go to the public prosecutor’s office, and we have continued to act within the law."

Nonetheless, it was Madrid who sent UEFA "a substantial amount of documents" related to the Negreira Case on October 1. The European game's governing body added that "UEFA's Ethics and Disciplinary Inspectors have also received these latest documents, which they will assess as part of their ongoing review of the case."

Madrid released a statement of their own, explaining that their complaint "includes extensive documentation and evidence regarding events of extraordinary seriousness, which directly affect the integrity of the competition and confidence in the refereeing system."

The statement continued: "Real Madrid C.F. considers it essential that, now that UEFA has this documentation, the investigation proceeds with the utmost urgency until its full conclusion, and that the competent bodies take the appropriate decisions in accordance with the severity of the verified facts. Our club will continue to actively collaborate with UEFA and take all actions within its power to clarify events that it deems incompatible with the principles of integrity, transparency, and fair play that should govern European football."

Barcelona felt UEFA's confirmation of the receipt of Madrid's dossier was mistakenly reported in some quarters as the opening of a new investigation. Consequently, they released a statement containing some "clarifications".

"UEFA has not opened any new proceedings against FC Barcelona," it read. "The proceedings were initiated in 2023, with the appointment of two investigators who have since carried out the action they deemed appropriate. The club has always complied with all their requests. These proceedings have not been reopened because they have never been closed.

"The UEFA statement confirms receipt of documentation submitted by Real Madrid and indicates that the investigators will assess it within the framework of the existing investigation. The same text expressly refers, on two occasions, to an investigation and a review that are “ongoing.” It therefore does not announce the opening, reopening, or reactivation of any proceedings, nor does it contain any assessment of the substance or value of the documentation provided.

"It is up to the investigators to determine what action, if any, they consider appropriate regarding this documentation. As of today, they have not made any new requests to FC Barcelona nor have they forwarded Real Madrid’s complaint to the club. Should they do so, the club will respond accordingly, as it has done up to now.

"In accordance with the applicable legislation governing this matter, these proceedings are subject to the outcome of the criminal case currently being heard in Spain and will continue to be so. Since the investigation began, FC Barcelona has continued to obtain its UEFA licence without objection and has participated in UEFA competitions. FC Barcelona reiterates its full cooperation with the competent authorities and calls for rigour and accuracy in the reporting of this procedure."

Less than a month after telling Real Madrid that it was "TIME TO TAKE OFF THE BLINDERS" and stop consistently blaming referees and La Liga for "conspiring" against Los Blancos, league president Tebas claimed that the club's "management directs an orchestra of mouthpieces and Real Madrid TV leads the singing."

"Their score is always the same," Tebas wrote on Twitter. "Select the plays that suit them, repeat the grievance, feed the suspicion, and point fingers at the enemies. That method recalls propaganda mechanisms exploited by (Joseph) Goebbels, Nazi Germany's Minister of Propaganda: systematic repetition, construction of an enemy, and subordination of facts to the narrative. The comparison is with those propaganda techniques, not with an ideology or, of course, with the Madridista fanbase.

"Real Madrid TV is a central piece of that machinery. Where is the full match analysis for each round of games? Where are the possible errors that harm other clubs or those that favour Real Madrid? If they applied the same magnifying glass to every match, the result might ruin their script.

"But the script demands that Real Madrid always appear as the victim. And that's how they reach the extreme of presenting even NO ERROR as an error and using the Negreira Case as a permanent explanation for any decision they don't like. The suspicion is taken as proven, and the conclusion is written before the match even starts."

Madrid responded furious to the Goebbels comparison and, for the second time in less than a month, called for Tebas to resign. "Real Madrid considers it absolutely intolerable and extraordinarily serious that someone holding two positions of utmost responsibility in Spanish football resorts to a comparison with the propaganda methods of the Nazi regime to discredit our club, its management, and its television," read a statement published on Madrid's official website. "The clarification that he is not referring to Nazi ideology does not mitigate the deeply offensive, morally repugnant, and institutionally unworthy nature of his statements.

"These statements constitute yet another episode in the repeated attacks by Javier Tebas against Real Madrid, its president, and its media outlets. It is unacceptable that he even takes advantage of questions, information, or opinions from journalists unrelated to the club to direct his accusations at us, attributing to us actions of third parties for which we bear no responsibility. It is especially concerning that Tebas uses these statements to question the legitimate actions of Real Madrid and Real Madrid TV in relation to the Negreira Case.

"In light of the lack of response to the extraordinary seriousness of the Negreira case by the two institutions where Javier Tebas holds positions of utmost relevance, our club has had to approach UEFA directly to demand a full clarification of the payments made over the years by FC Barcelona to the vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees and the adoption of necessary measures to ensure the integrity of competitions.

"Real Madrid also demands a comprehensive overhaul of the refereeing system and the federative structures of governance, management, supervision, and discipline, through the renewal of those who held positions of responsibility during that period.

"It is particularly significant that Javier Tebas, president of La Liga and vice president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation, an organisation that includes the Technical Committee of Referees, dedicates his efforts to discrediting Real Madrid instead of promoting, from his institutional responsibilities, the clarification of these extremely serious events and the necessary regeneration of Spanish football.

"Javier Tebas' repeated conduct demonstrates a lack of neutrality, respect, and impartiality incompatible with his institutional responsibilities. His constant attacks on Real Madrid and those demanding transparency and regeneration represent, in our club's view, a genuine scourge for Spanish football.

"For all these reasons, Real Madrid considers that the repeated statements and behaviours of Javier Tebas would be unacceptable in any European sports institution governed by principles of respect, neutrality, and integrity, and that they disqualify him institutionally from continuing to hold the positions he occupies. Consequently, Real Madrid demands his immediate resignation as president of La Liga and vice president of the Royal Spanish Football Federation."

Tebas responded by saying that he'd "lost count" of the amount times Madrid had demanded his resignation. "They confuse neutrality with independence," he wrote. "My position demands independence, not passivity in the face of injustice or silence in the face of the continuous, disproportionate, and insulting attacks from Real Madrid TV and its lapdogs on our competition. The La Liga president must defend it. Including against Real Madrid's leaders.

"La Liga acted from the very first moment in the Negreira Case. Repeating that we were passive doesn't make it true... If they're so certain that those referees are still acting under Negreira's influence, eight years after the payments ended, what evidence do they have against each one? What individual complaints have they filed with national bodies, UEFA, or FIFA? Demanding accountability from FCB doesn't substantiate an accusation against each referee. A video doesn't replace evidence. Putting people in the crosshairs is of enormous gravity and irresponsibility.

"On refereeing reform, progress has been made and there's still work to do. I would have liked to go faster and further. But institutions can't do whatever Real Madrid's leaders want based on their interests, their mood, their sporting situation, or their relations with FCB at any given moment. Nor can they ignore the other stakeholders and the support of the vast majority of clubs. Reforming isn't obeying them.

My conclusion: They seek to DESTROY the national competition. What they haven't achieved so far with the Super League, they're trying with a distorted narrative from their media and their lapdogs. They call it regeneration while attacking the prestige of the competition they participate in. All this has a name: intimidation. Wrapping it in an official statement doesn't turn it into regeneration."