Barcelona President Joan Laporta believes that the reason for the accusations against the club in connection with payments to the company owned by the former chief referee is a conspiracy.
Last week, Spanish prosecutors filed a corruption complaint against Barcelona over payments allegedly made to a business run by José María Enríquez Negreira.
Negreira, once a high-ranking match referee, was most recently Vice President of the Technical Referee Committee (CTA) of Spain.
The total payments from Barcelona between 2001 and 2018 are said to have exceeded 7 million euros. El Pais newspaper reported last month that Enriquez Negreira’s company, DASNIL 95 SL, had produced written reports and a DVD of referee scores for Barcelona ahead of the games.
Real Madrid have said they are ready to appear for any trial related to the investigation and, oddly enough, there will be a Clasico on Sunday with Barcelona at home against Madrid.
On Friday, Laporta addressed fans, telling them to trust Barcelona’s version.
“We’re going to have a great game this Sunday,” Laporta said. “I ask you to come cheer for the team more than ever. We have a great opportunity to get closer to our goal this season – to win the championship. A great opportunity”.
Barcelona are leading La Liga, nine points behind defending champions Madrid.
“The campaign we’re suffering from is no accident, you all know that,” Laporta said of the allegations. “His goal is to destabilize the team in the short term and control Barça in the medium term. I will have time and I want to explain to you who, why and how they want to organize this campaign.
“Don’t doubt that we will defend ourselves. And we will not only defend, we will attack. But now we have to focus on cheering the team this Sunday because, as I said, their first goal is to destabilize the team.”
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Laporta was not clear as to who he believes could destabilize the club and why they might have such a motivation.
He told the fans: “We have to focus on encouraging the team, our players, our coaches to win the game. I think that we should not focus on other aspects that can distract our players from focusing on the game in order to win it. Because it’s necessary.
“So come this Sunday to cheer for the team more than ever. Let’s encourage Barça because we love Barça. Long live Barça.”