Barcelona ‘to file’ criminal complaint against Florentino Pérez if he skips conciliation hearing | OneFootball

Barcelona will file a criminal complaint for slander against Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez if he misses a conciliation hearing on 25 November in Madrid or refuses to retract. According to El Periódico Mediterráneo, the application has been admitted, with the session set for Sala de Vistas Juzgados 1 y 2 de Madrid.

The action stems from Pérez’s 12 May press conference, during which he suggested the league may have been altered over the last 30 years because of the Negreira case. He said Madrid had missed out on seven titles due to what he called Negreira Boys, adding there was no need to buy referees.

Barcelona’s filing includes YouTube clips of Pérez’s remarks and references to payments made by Barcelona to the former number two in Spain’s refereeing hierarchy. It also cites his interview with Josep Pedrerol on La Sexta on 13 May, when he said there had been no payments in the last 10 years, that the same referees remained, and claimed Madrid had been stripped of 16 points.

The club’s legal team argues Pérez is openly misrepresenting reality by spreading a gravely slanderous narrative, and maintains no payment can be tied to specific results in the competition.

Barcelona is asking Pérez to acknowledge the inaccuracy or falsity of his statements. They also want him to identify any referees he implied under the Negreira Boys label, and to specify which matches or incidents he believes were affected.

Source: El Periódico Mediterráneo

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