Confirmed – Barcelona initiate legal action against Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez | OneFootball

Last month, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez held an explosive press conference during which he lashed out at FC Barcelona citing the Negreira scandal.

During the press conference as well as a subsequent interview on the next day, the Real Madrid chief claimed that Barça had ‘stolen’ multiple La Liga titles from the club due to favouritism from the referees.

Not pleased by the comments, the Catalans had issued an official statement soon after confirming that they were exploring legal actions against the re-elected Real Madrid president.

Barcelona begin legal procedures

Now, in an official statement, Barcelona have announced that they have begun the process of filing a lawsuit against Perez for slander.

The Blaugrana have asked for the Real Madrid president to retract his statements and have threatened a criminal lawsuit against him in case he does not do so.

The statement from Barcelona read as follows:

“FC Barcelona reports that today it has filed the required conciliation request prior to filing a lawsuit for the crime of slander under Article 205 of the Penal Code against the President of Real Madrid, Mr. Florentino Perez, as a result of the statements made by him at the press conference on May 12 and in an interview with a media outlet the following day.

“The objective of this lawsuit is for Mr. Perez to retract certain statements he made knowing them to be false, statements that are slanderous and offensive to the image and reputation of the Club.

“Should this demand not be properly addressed, FC Barcelona will proceed to file the corresponding criminal complaint.”

What will Real Madrid’s response be?

Perez has not backed down in his fight against the Negreira scandal. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Real Madrid and Perez have been steadfast in their battle against Barcelona as far as the Negreira case is concerned.

The Merengues have already compiled and sent a dossier to UEFA containing what they believe were major cases of favourable treatment that Barça have received from match officials.

With relations between the two institutions already completely broken down, it will be interesting to see how Real Madrid respond to Barcelona’s legal action.