The president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, has no intention of resigning after being charged in the ‘Negreira case’ for the crimes of bribery, sports corruption, disloyal administration and document falsification. Barça paid 7.3 million euros over 18 years to the vice president of referees, José María Enríquez Negreira. For this reason, the justice system is investigating Laporta and his two predecessors, Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu. The Barça club has always denied that it bought the referees through payments to Negreira. The judge investigating the case, however, believes that there may be alleged referee “corruption” to “benefit” Barça in referee appointments.
The day after being included in the list of those investigated, Laporta resorted to victimhood, became involved in the azulgrana and the estelada and accused “sociological Real Madrid” of being behind the ‘Negreira case’ and of orchestrating a campaign to try to destabilize the blaugrana entity. Anti-Madrid message for internal consumption for the culé parish to close ranks, but it sheds no light and keeps all suspicions open.
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At the beginning of this legal case, when Barça was accused, Laporta already diverted attention by blaming Real Madrid for being the team of the regime. Laporta, when he accuses, always takes great care not to give names and surnames. In this case, he speaks of a concept in the abstract, sociological Madridismo, which in his opinion is installed in the media, in the political, judicial, economic and sporting powers of the capital of Spain and which seeks to attack Barça so that Real Madrid benefits. Curiously, he did not attack Florentino Pérez, with whom he said he has a good relationship and whom he hopes to greet in the Montjuic box at the classic on the 28th.
The Barça president asks that the 2030 World Cup final be played at the Camp Nou
No opposition
«They are terrified that we will win everything again. They are afraid that there will be a new glorious era for Barça,” he said this Thursday on Catalunya Ràdio. “They attack us because we are doing well again,” he reiterated. “We can rest assured, they have not proven anything nor will they be able to prove it, because it is not true,” he insisted. On Saturday he will explain the club’s situation to the members at the delegates’ assembly. In principle, the opposition does not believe that he has to resign, despite the serious criminal charges and the reputational damage for the entity. “He is the elected president and he has all the legitimacy in the world to fulfill his mandate,” said Víctor Font, candidate in the last elections, yesterday. In fact, Font, who is the ‘leader’ of the opposition, bought the victimist speech. “There have always been smear campaigns against Barça from Madrid,” he said.
In any case, if Laporta is questioned among Barcelona fans, it is not because of the ‘Negreira case’, although some First Division teams consider it the most serious scandal in recent years in Spanish football, but because of the financial situation. «We are worse than two years ago. The patient is still in the ICU and the tests are worse,” concluded Font, who perhaps did not choose the best day to make this statement, when it was made public that the Rolling Stones will sponsor the Barça shirt in the classic.
Initially, Laporta was not charged, since it was considered that in his case the crimes had expired. The Barça president believes that his criminal case will not be pursued and will end up being archived because “we live in a rule of law.” “It has no basis,” he said. Laporta still does not explain why Barça stopped hiring Negreira when he stopped being vice president of referees and still does not justify why the club paid millions for reports of low quality and no use.
What is clear is that the Barça president feels “strong”, he grows in the face of adversity and is willing to fight against Madrid, to the point that he is already nominating the Camp Nou as the venue for the World Cup final in Spain in 2030.
2023-10-19 15:28:05
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