Barcelona threatens Florentino Perez with court filing over ‘slanderous’ comments | OneFootball

Barcelona have started taking legal action against Real Madrid president Florentino Perez over comments he made regarding the ‘Negreira case’.

The Blaugranas confirmed that they have filed a request for conciliation against Perez.

Under Spanish law, this process gives the accused person an opportunity to withdraw or correct their statements before a formal court case begins.

The club stated that if Perez refuses to retract his comments, they will move forward with a criminal complaint.

Barcelona have decided to take action against Perez for the comments he made during a press conference on May 12 and in a media interview the following day.

The club argues that some of his statements were knowingly false and damaged Barcelona’s reputation.

In an official statement, Barcelona said the purpose of the filing is to seek a retraction of remarks they consider slanderous and harmful to the club’s image.

The case has been brought under Article 205 of Spain’s Penal Code, which deals with defamation.

Perez made comments about the ongoing investigation into payments made by Barcelona to the former vice-president of Spain’s referees’ committee, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.

The reported €8.4 million payment has been the centre of one of the most controversial issues in Spanish football history.

During his press conference in May, Perez described the matter as “the biggest scandal in history” and an unprecedented case of corruption.

He also pointed out that referees from the period under investigation are still officiating in competitions.

Perez further revealed that Madrid are preparing an extensive dossier on the case, which he said would be submitted to UEFA after the season.

According to Perez, the report would contain hundreds of pages of information related to the investigation.

The comments came shortly before Perez won the Madrid presidential election, beating Enrique Riquelme to retain his seat after winning 65% of the vote.