More

Negreira: 'Barça wanted to make sure no decisions went against them'

Negreira arrives to speak on Barcelona's payments
Negreira arrives to speak on Barcelona's paymentsProfimedia
Enríquez Negreira declared before the Tax Agency - when his companies were being investigated for alleged irregularities that Barcelona paid him - that the club "wanted to make sure that no decisions were made against them, that everything was neutral". This has been published by El Periódico, which has had access to the full statement of the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA).

In addition to answering questions about his work within the CTA, from where "I didn't get paid anything because I already had my company and I was paid by Barcelona", the ex-referee detailed, as El Periódico has revealed, what his working relationship with the Blaugrana club was like, which for more than a decade paid him millions of euros for"technical advice".

In reality, as Enríquez Negreira told the Treasury, his work consisted of "going to watch the matches (personally or through fellow ex-referees) and being informed of why decisions had been made.

"Futbol Club Barcelona considered that the team was being harmed and other teams were being favoured (this is a personal hypothesis, no one has told me directly).

"My obligation was to give my opinion on the matches in terms of refereeing and players. Technical advice. What Futbol Club Barcelona wanted was to make sure that no decisions were made against them, that everything was neutral".

A consultancy that lasted "about 13 years" and for which he was paid more than 7 million euros despite acknowledging that such reports did not exist in writing.

"Why did they pay him invoiced amounts if there were no written reports?" 

"Because that way they were reassured that in the arbitration committee there were no decisions against FC Barcelona, that everything was neutral".