Real Madrid have escalated their position in the Negreira case, after the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) announced receipt of the documents submitted by the club regarding the case and the continuation of the investigation into the payments received by José María Enríquez Negreira, former vice-president of the technical refereeing committee in Spain.
The club issuedan official statement on Thursday confirming that UEFA had acknowledged receipt of their complaint, along with the documents and evidence Real Madrid attached to the case file. In their view, the investigation had reached a phase that demanded a swift conclusion.
Madrid said the complaint included "extensive documents and evidence" relating to facts they described as extremely serious. Those facts, they insisted, directly affect the integrity of the competition and trust in the refereeing system.
With these documents now at UEFA, the club stressed that the investigation needed to continue "with the utmost speed" until it reaches its full conclusion, leaving the competent bodies to take whatever decisions they deem appropriate given the seriousness of the facts being verified.
This escalation follows UEFA's official confirmation that it had received a large quantity of documents from Real Madrid on the Negreira investigation. The ethics and disciplinary inspectors have also obtained them to assess as part of the ongoing review of the file.
Real Madrid vowed to keep cooperating actively with the European body and to take every measure within their powers to clarify facts the club considers incompatible with the principles that must govern European football.
Integrity, transparency and fair play. Those are the principles Madrid pointed to, a message that reflects the club's determination to keep pressing the matter at European level.
Their moves have dragged the Negreira case back to the fore within UEFA's corridors. The European body followed the file in previous years, and inspectors are now studying the new documents submitted by the Spanish club.
None of this means a sanction will be handed to Barcelona. The next step remains tied to what the competent UEFA bodies conclude after examining the evidence and hearing the parties concerned.