Jose Maria Gutierrez, "Guti", has taken aim at Barcelona president Joan Laporta over the Negreira case, accusing the Catalan chief of contradicting himself. The former Real Madrid star pointed out that payments to the ex-vice-president of the technical refereeing committee continued through several presidential eras, Laporta's own first term among them, even as the Barcelona boss insisted on his club's innocence.
Guti was speaking on Spanish programme "El Chiringuito", responding to Laporta's recent comments in which he defended Barcelona and turned his fire on Real Madrid, accusing the club of arrogance and haughtiness in its handling of the case.
"He is now lecturing us on how to run a club, when he was one of the presidents who paid him," said the former Madrid midfielder, referring to the money received by Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the refereeing committee.
Sarcasm followed. "Well, I am convinced that Florentino Perez heard him and will take his words seriously, and will take everything Laporta says about Real Madrid seriously," Guti added, mocking the Barcelona president's attack on the Spanish giants.
At the heart of the row sit payments of around 8.4 million euros, handed by Barcelona to companies linked to the former refereeing official between 2001 and 2018, according to Spanish media reports. Judicial investigations are still examining what that money was for.
Real Madrid, meanwhile, press on with their legal moves. The club have taken steps before the Spanish judiciary and submitted documents to UEFA, who had already reopened Barcelona's file to study the information put in front of them.