After Real Madrid’s offensive in the Negreira affair, FC Barcelona immediately counterattacked. In an official letter addressed to Javier Tebas (LaLiga), Rafael Louzán (RFEF) and Francisco Soto (CTA), Blaugrana vice-president Rafael Yuste y Abel calls for action against Florentino Pérez following several public statements made on May 12 and 13. The Catalan club believes that these comments are ” fake “ and that they “seriously undermine the honor and image of the first division championship”but also to “the arbitral body as a whole”. More broadly, Barça considers that the Madrid president’s media outings “harm the reputation and credibility of Spanish professional football”, in an already explosive context around the Negreira file.
FC Barcelona therefore asks the leaders of the various institutions to react firmly. In his letter, the club “urges competition co-organizers and referees to defend the reputation of their organizations” and recalls having taken steps himself by recently filing “a request for conciliation”. The Blaugranas especially demand adoption “emergency” of “appropriate associative and legal measures against Mr. Pérez” in order to protect “the honor, integrity and prestige of institutions” concerned as well as that “competitions they organize”. A new escalation in the open war which now opposes the two giants of Spanish football over the Negreira affair.
The press release in its entirety
“The president of FC Barcelona, Rafael Yuste y Abel, today sent an official letter to the presidents of LaLiga, Javier Tebas; from the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF), Rafael Louzán; and of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), Francisco Soto, in connection with the statements made by the president of Real Madrid CF, Florentino Pérez, during various public appearances on May 12 and 13.
FC Barcelona considers that these statements, in addition to being false, seriously damage the honor and image of the first division championship, as well as the arbitration body as a whole, and harm the reputation and credibility of Spanish professional football.
The Club urges the co-organizers of the competition and the referees to defend the reputation of their organizations – as it did recently by filing a request for conciliation – and asks the recipient entities to urgently adopt, within the framework of their respective competences, the appropriate associative and judicial measures against Mr. Pérez in order to defend the honor, integrity and prestige of the institutions they represent and the competitions they organize.
