Since news of FC Barcelona’s relationship with Enriquez Negreira broke last February, this story has dominated Spanish football. It is also a story that has fractured relations between the two greats of Spain.
When it was announced that FC Barcelona would be charged by prosecutors in the “Negreira affair”, Real Madrid announced that they would present themselves as an injured party, which was not well received in Catalonia .
The matter is still ongoing and on Saturday, during Real Madrid’s annual general meeting, president Florentino Perez addressed the situation, according to Marca.
“We must be respectful of justice. It is not normal that a football club paid 8 million euros for 20 years to the vice-president of the Referees Committee. We were admitted as an injured party. This is an extremely serious matter which damages the image of Spanish football.”
FC Barcelona has maintained its innocence throughout the case, while Real Madrid will closely monitor the progress of the procedure.