In a dramatic press conference, Florentino Pérez, initially intending to discuss Real Madrid’s current situation, took aim at the media and, most notably, FC Barcelona over the Negreira case. The president began by declaring he would not resign and would call for elections, but soon shifted focus, brandishing a stack of documents and launching a fierce attack.
Pérez spent around 13 minutes before mentioning the Negreira case, amid ongoing issues within the club such as the reported altercation between Tchouaméni and Valverde, Valverde’s apparent inaction, Kylian Mbappé’s costly performances, and Jude Bellingham’s struggles. However, the Real Madrid president zeroed in on Barcelona’s longstanding payments to the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees.
“Three years ago we learned about the Negreira case. It is the biggest scandal in history. They paid for twenty years, and in this third decade, we still have the same referees. We will submit an important document to UEFA so that they can take fundamental action to resolve this case, for the good of world football,” said Pérez.
This fight has become one of the most significant for the club’s leader in recent times, especially given the lack of sporting success for the first team. He also took aim at La Liga, Javier Tebas, and what he described as the “anti-Real Madrid” camp.
Throughout the press conference, he repeatedly returned to the same theme: “And of course we have our eternal enemy, La Liga. We will fight. I will fight against everyone. There is systemic corruption in the Negreira case. How can we forget? We are preparing a 500-page document, and after the match I will send it to UEFA. I have already spoken with them. There is no precedent in the history of world football. This is the biggest corruption case in history. I will fight against everyone.”
Regarding his previous statement about “helping Barcelona,” Pérez dropped another bombshell: “That was a long time ago. We only recently learned about the Negreira case. We couldn’t imagine it. Barcelona distributed money to the referee chief. The moment that topic came to light, we have been following it, and we are preparing a document. We will see this through to the end. This kind of thing would not be tolerated anywhere in the world. It is unbelievable.”
