Barcelona summon Florentino Perez to court in defamation row | OneFootball

According to Goal.com, a Madrid court has set a conciliation hearing for 25 November after Barcelona summoned Real Madrid president Florentino Perez in a defamation case linked to his comments on refereeing corruption and past La Liga titles.

In June the club filed the mandatory conciliation claim under Article 205 of the Penal Code, seeking a retraction of remarks made in a May press conference amid the Negreira investigation. If Perez misses the hearing or refuses to retract, Barcelona will file criminal slander charges.

Central are Perez's assertions of systemic corruption across two decades, centred on the Negreira affair. He portrayed Barcelona as the main beneficiary, said other teams suffered, and argued Real Madrid members back him.

He said Madrid are preparing a 500-page dossier for UEFA, having already spoken to the body, and urged intervention. He added there is no precedent in world football and that the game cannot remain under a long shadow of corruption.

Perez went further by linking the case to lost domestic titles. He claimed Real Madrid were denied seven league crowns and that his tally of seven Champions Leagues and seven Leagues could be 14.

Barcelona viewed those remarks as alleging theft and fraud and moved to defend their honours and history in court. Vice-president Rafael Yuste called it an effort to destabilise the team and vowed to meet in court.

Source: Goal.com

“Artificial intelligence was used to assist in creating this article based on reporting from the original source quoted.”