Barcelona Former commissioner José Manuel Villarejo has linked Real Madrid and its president, Florentino Pérez, in a plot to buy referees to adulterate the results. “Madrid had bribed referees before Barça”, he said in an interview with RAC1.
Villarejo went further, assuring that “all presidents” have taken similar actions. “In some way, with Real Madrid, before this (of the Negreira case), the same thing had already been detected.” The ex-commissioner has verbalized Florentino’s own name, whom he has described as “untouchable”. The Barça case has come to trial, but Villarejo believes that with the current Madrid president, the white club can rest easy. “It’s impossible. Anyone who dared to do so would be suicidal.”
Sandro Rosell responds to Villarejo: “I want to believe it’s a lie that Laporta took me to prison”
On the other hand, Rosell has given his version of the events after learning that ex-commissioner Villarejo pointed out Joan Laporta as being responsible for the accusations that ended with Rosell spending two years in pre-trial detention for a crime for which he finally he was acquitted. “I don’t want to believe it,” said who was president of Barça between 2010 and 2014.
In an interview with Catalunya Ràdio, Rosell explained how he felt when he learned of these accusations. “Yesterday when I heard about it, I got really angry. Even if only 1% of what he said is true, it really shakes your brain. It’s really hard. It affected me a lot. I was thinking about all the derivatives” . The former president added a reflection: “I was reviewing the interview and except for that of Jan Laporta, I believed the rest of what Villarejo said…”
Rosell has admitted that Laporta – who flatly denied the accusations – tried to contact him, but did not pick up his phone. He also sent her a voice note that she hasn’t heard yet. “Yesterday I was very angry and it was not the time to take the phone from him. I haven’t heard the voice note either. A lot of things went through my mind yesterday and I think that decisions should be made cold.”
The former president has said that he does not want to talk by phone, but in person. “I think it’s best to go talk to Jan and tell him to my face. Because I know when he’s lying. I want him to tell me it wasn’t him.” This, however, will be when he has “passed his rage”.
In fact, he has gone further and proposed a three-way meeting between himself, Laporta and Josep Maria Bartomeu – the last three presidents of Barça. “We need to have a catharsis. We need to meet the three of us, tell each other the name of the pig or whatever, and never put sticks in each other’s wheels again. I think it’s time to do it.”
On the part of Rosell, he believes that “it is possible to recover this trust”. Provided, of course, that he is convinced that Laporta has nothing to do with the accusations. “With Barto I have a relationship of friendship. And with Jan, a relationship of love and heartbreak. But I prefer to stay with the good things.”
Rosell defends that Barça paid to make arbitration reports
Another topic of the interview was the Negreira case. Rosell, in the same line that Barça has argued so far with the hand of the current president, Joan Laporta, has ensured that the payments were made exclusively for the arbitration reports and that there was no intention to influence the results . “The only thing missing would be for Barça not to make arbitration reports. All the teams do it.”
Rosell has said that he was in the case of the reports. “I knew we had someone who did it, although I didn’t know about the retail payments because they didn’t go through the board, since the amounts were less than 100,000 euros a month. I found out now from the information.” From his point of view, the money was well spent. “The report comes out for 4,000 euros, and if that saves you from a penalty or a red card, then I accept it. We could discuss the price. It’s high, because in football the prices are high.”
“I’m hallucinating with this case. Enríquez Negreira had no decision-making power with the referees. And this bribery thing is fantastic. Because you have to be a public official. And now they’ve twisted it to the point where you can accuse without having to prove the test. It’s brutal that this is happening. I’ve already experienced it firsthand. Show me a game where the referee went in our favor. On the contrary, I can show you many that didn’t. We’ve even lost leagues because of it. They haven’t found any evidence of referee buying and they won’t find it.”
Rosell, who has also reflected on the multiple court cases in which he has been involved, says: “There is no doubt that they persecuted me for having been president of Barça”. In this regard, he has said that “in the short term” he rules out running for the presidency again. But he added: “Never say never,” leaving open the possibility of a long-term rethink.
2023-10-03 08:00:59
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