The president of Fútbol Club Barcelona, Joan Laporta, assured this Monday that the Catalan club “never carried out any action” to obtain a sporting advantage thanks to the referees and denounced “a smear campaign” as a result of the Negreira case in which investigates an alleged corruption for payments to the referee.
“Barcelona has never carried out any action that had the final objective or the intention of altering the competition to achieve some kind of sporting advantage,” Laporta stressed before the Spanish media gathered in the Auditori 1899 of the Nou Camp stadium to refer to the so-called Negreira case.
The “azulgrana” leader rejected the suspicions generated after the Spanish justice system opened an investigation into Barcelona’s payments to José María Enríquez Negreira, former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) and which points to former Barcelona presidents such as Sandro Rosell and Josep María Bartomeu.
“Barcelona fans have been suffering a smear campaign for two months that has nothing to do with reality. In our history we are a model of sport. We win thanks to effort and talent. When we do, we celebrate together, and when we lose, we don’t look for excuses” added Laporta in statements collected by the AFP news agency and the Mundo Deportivo newspaper.
The main leader of the “culé” club said: “We like to win. And we like to win by playing well, without refereeing help. We have detractors, sometimes out of envy, who now come back. No smear campaign will stop Barcelona from being a model in world football”.
“When the Negreira case came out, I said that it was not a coincidence. I commissioned professionals from outside the club to prepare a report. Now I have more information and I can confirm that Barcelona has never carried out any action that has the purpose or intention of adulterating the competition to have a sporting advantage”, he expanded.
“The tax agency -he added- has not been able to demonstrate that the payments made could have affected any result. And they have not been able to demonstrate it because that did not happen nor was it possible. The invoices are detailed by bank transfer and are documented in the accounts of the club. There has been no desire to hide anything. The sports reports commissioned have been transparent”.
