Overview
- Barcelona president Joan Laporta publicly rejected Florentino Pérez’s recent allegations on Friday, calling Pérez’s press conference grotesque and saying Barcelona will respond in the appropriate forums.
- Florentino Pérez had accused Barcelona of skewing refereeing linked to the Negreira payments and said Real Madrid would send a dossier to UEFA claiming multiple La Liga titles were ‘stolen’.
- Real Madrid manager Álvaro Arbeloa defended the club’s decision to keep the issue in the public eye and said Madrid will press for a formal resolution of what he described as a serious matter.
- Reporting this week said a third medical evaluation found Negreira’s mental state has declined, making him unlikely to take the stand and reducing the chance of a courtroom conclusion.
- With testimony unlikely, the dispute has shifted to media, UEFA scrutiny and internal club politics, worsening relations between the clubs and raising the stakes for upcoming institutional moves such as Madrid’s presidential election and Laporta’s formal return on June 1.