Football
Barcelona file legal action against Real Madrid’s Florentino Perez
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez had officially been summoned to face the Barcelona legal team over some comments he made about the club.
Perez has been summoned by a Madrid court over remarks made by the Madrid chief regarding refereeing corruption and the legitimacy of past La Liga titles.
The meeting is set to take place on November 25 in the Madrid courts, marking a significant step in the defamation case brought forward by the Blaugrana.
Barcelona are demanding a formal retraction from Perez regarding comments he made during a press conference in May, where he launched a stinging attack on the club’s integrity in relation to the ongoing Negreira investigation.
Barcelona are willing to press charges against Florentino Perez. (Photo By Angel Perez Meca/Europa Press via Getty Images)
The Catalonia club will press criminal charges for slander if Perez misses the hearing or refuses to retract his Negreira claims, pushing board-level tension between the two rivals to its highest point in decades.
Perez left no stone unturned when taking aim at the Negreira affair, declaring: ‘The corruption in the Negreira case is systemic. It is the greatest scandal in history. To have to hear the CTA president say these things should be forgotten… how can they be forgotten? Madrid members are with me in my war against Negreira. Real Madrid isn’t the only victim – other teams suffer too, while Barca is always the beneficiary.’
Taking his offensive a step further, Perez revealed that Real Madrid is taking concrete legal action to involve European football’s governing body. ‘We are preparing a 500-page dossier to send to UEFA, and I have already spoken with them,’ the Real president warned. ‘There is no precedent for this in world football. Let’s see if UEFA finally steps in – they cannot allow European football to remain under the shadow of corruption that was paid for over 20 years.’
Perez also suggested that Real Madrid had been systematically deprived of domestic trophies.
The Real Madrid president directly linked the Negreira payments to lost titles on the pitch, boldly remarking: ‘I have been here for I don’t know how many seasons and I have only won seven Champions Leagues and seven Leagues, which could be 14 because 7 Leagues have been stolen from me.’