“He sold us a lobby service” | Relief

Toni Freixa is the authoritative voice of Barcelona fans. Having been on the last three boards of directors, including Sandro Rosell, Joan Laporta and José Maria Bartomeu, as a representative of several of them, he is a great connoisseur of one of the club’s best sporting scenes and part of another over which a shadow of doubt reigns. was seeded after it became known about the club’s payments to the former head of the referee, José Maria Henriques Negreira.

Currently in action It has not been proven that the money that the Blaugrana club paid to the vice-president of the CTA was intended to purchase judges. and everything indicates, according to experts, that if this happened, it would be unprovable. Despite the existence of technical reports that Negreira made regarding Barca referees at the time, the investigation questioned whether these documents were worth the amount the club paid for them, around 7.5 million euros. So the question that remains up in the air is to know exactly the reason why these amounts were paid each year.

Freixa, correspondent for El Partidazo de la Cadena COPE, left clues about what happened on Tuesday evening after Barça beat Young Boys (5-0) on the second day of the Champions League. “I’m always afraid of judges”– he commented, causing the conversation to move from the current affairs of Hansi Flick’s team to the famous Negreira case.

The former culé leader, who ran for president in 2015, argued that it was this fact, as well as the fear of arbitration, that made Negreira pay. “We always felt that we were mistreated, always humiliated or always with a less favorable attitude than the club that has him, as all Spanish football knows.“, he said, referring to Real Madrid. “In this situation, mistakes could have been made,” he continued.

And here, according to Freixa, Enriquez Negreira comes to the rescue. “You are mistaken in thinking that some smart guy… was selling you lobby services. “Don’t worry, I will prepare some reports for you with me, show you how it works, and you will achieve more.”“, he asserted, putting this last phrase into Negreira’s mouth.

He also explained why, while still feeling offended, they continue to pay the former arbitrator year after year and increase the amounts. “One president after another, after another, after another… They didn’t dare remove him because they thought it would be worse for us.”– he concluded.

Qualify what is said and get angry at the cave

The morning after his speech at El Partidazo, Freixa clarified his words and became angry with those who wrote that he admitted Barça payments to Negreira. “I never admitted this… I urge you to fix this immediately,” he wrote on his X account.