Real Madrid demand ‘firm and immediate’ UEFA action in Barcelona case | OneFootball

In addition to winning most of the domestic titles, having lost out only on a Copa del Rey, another factor that would have endeared Hansi Flick a lot to FC Barcelona fans would be the superiority the Catalan team has enjoyed over their archrivals Real Madrid ever since the German coach’s arrival.

In his two years in charge of the Blaugrana team, Flick has lost only one match to the Merengues, while leading his team to six victories over their rivals. Three of these wins have come in finals, two in the Spanish Super Cup and one in Copa del Rey.

In addition to these matches, the two clubs have also remained in a state of animosity off the pitch as well. Among the different matters in which they hold disagreements, one of the most prominent is the Negreira Case, in which the white club’s officials have repeatedly blamed Barcelona of having paid a former head of the refereeing committee to obtain undue favors.

In this regard, the latest episode has seen Real Madrid send a report to UEFA, in which they have asked for disciplinary actions against the Catalan club for having made payments to the head of the CTA. As MARCA has reported, the Merengue club also issued a statement in this regard, which went as:

Real Madrid emphasized the severity of the actions taken by Barcelona, and how they can negatively affect sports in general:

“Real Madrid emphasizes that these facts constitute, from the perspective of sports disciplinary law, a systemic risk of utmost severity for the integrity of competitions, as they reveal the existence of a structure of undue influence over the refereeing body, incompatible with the essential principles of competitive equality, neutrality, impartiality, and unpredictability of sports outcomes.”

The Merengue club demanded a response from UEFA separate from the results of the judicial proceedings in this case:

“In this context, Real Madrid has urged the immediate resumption of the disciplinary proceedings previously initiated by UEFA, considering it unacceptable that this situation has persisted over time, as its continuation seriously compromises the credibility of football, its institutions, and its leaders. Therefore, the club demands a firm, exemplary, and immediate response in the sporting domain, independently of the ongoing judicial proceedings.

For this reason, our club requests UEFA, in the exercise of its independent and autonomous competence, to adopt the appropriate disciplinary and restorative measures to ensure the integrity, transparency, and proper functioning of competitions. This must not, under any circumstances, replace the role of State judicial bodies or preempt a criminal qualification of the facts. In this regard, Real Madrid, acting as a private prosecutor in the ongoing criminal proceedings, will continue to take the necessary legal actions at each procedural stage, as it has done since the beginning.”

In the end, Real Madrid ensured that this action has been taken mainly to defend the value of sport:

“Real Madrid reaffirms its commitment to defending the essential values of sport and will continue to promote all necessary actions to ensure that incidents of this nature do not go unpunished.”

Previously, another dossier sent by the white club to UEFA had been rejected, as the European body pointed to the ongoing judicial case. For now, it remains to be seen how UEFA would react to this new move from Real Madrid, and what its implications would be for Barcelona, who have maintained their stance of not having obtained any undue favors from their payments to Negreira.