The simmering tension between Spanish football’s two giants has erupted into an open institutional war. Real Madrid President Florentino Pérez announced on Tuesday that his relationship with FC Barcelona is “completely broken,” launching a blistering attack on the Catalan club over the ongoing Negreira referee scandal.
In an explosive press conference just days after Barcelona clinched the La Liga title against his side, Pérez did not hold back. He accused Barça of “paying off referees for two decades” and demanded immediate justice in what he called the biggest scandal in sporting history.
“My relationship with Barcelona is completely broken, because I don’t want any connection with a club that has paid off referees for two decades,” Pérez told a room of journalists. “I want justice to be served in a case of this gravity.”
Dossier and ‘Stolen Titles’
The Real Madrid president revealed that the club is preparing a 500-page dossier detailing the alleged corruption, which he plans to submit to UEFA. He claimed that the institutional damage inflicted by the Negreira case is ongoing, arguing that referees connected to that era are still officiating matches today.
“This is the greatest scandal in history. It is a case that remains unresolved and is still ongoing,” Pérez stated. He further inflamed the situation by claiming that Real Madrid’s trophy haul has been directly diminished by the scandal, asserting that he should have won 14 league titles instead of seven because the other seven were “stolen” due to refereeing bias.
Barcelona’s Response
Within hours, Barcelona hit back. The newly crowned champions released an official statement revealing that their legal department is now “carefully examining his declarations and accusations.” The club has not ruled out taking legal action against Pérez for his incendiary remarks.
Rafael Yuste, a vice-president at Barcelona, went further in his personal rebuke. He labeled Pérez’s comments “pathetic and full of falsehoods,” suggesting the attack was merely a “smoke screen” to distract from Real Madrid’s failure to win major trophies over the last two seasons.
“Seven leagues stolen? This is a total falsehood. It is not like that, objectively speaking,” Yuste countered.
The Negreira Case
The comments refer to the ‘Negreira case,’ a long-running judicial investigation into payments made by FC Barcelona between 2001 and 2018 to José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the Spanish Football Federation’s Refereeing Committee.
Barcelona has consistently maintained that the payments, estimated at over €7 million ($8.2 million), were for technical reports and consultancy on refereeing protocols, and denies any attempt to influence match results. However, Spanish prosecutors have formally accused the club of corruption in sports.
The case has effectively severed relations between the two clubs’ boardrooms. Real Madrid is acting as a private prosecutor in the case, while Barcelona has previously accused Pérez of trying to destabilize the institution.
Pérez concluded his press conference by dismissing the idea that he was speaking out of frustration over recent results, framing the fight as a crusade for the integrity of football. “We are going all the way,” he said. “Because this is the most serious corruption case in the history of football.”
