By: Sandipan Ghosh Image credit: X
The Spanish La Liga giants Barcelona have been in controversies in recent times. One of their big controversies is President Joan Laporta's bribery charge over the Negreira case.
Between 2003 and 2010, Joan Laporta was President of Barcelona, who returned the role in 2021. During that period, Barcelona allegedly paid the former referees' chief Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.
According to allegations, Barcelona paid $7.7 million to the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) of the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) when Negreira was the Vice-President.
In that bribery case, Laporta has been alleged to have a role. Meanwhile, Barca have claimed that they paid Negreira as an external consultant to provide the club's professional refereeing reports.
Present Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was manager of Barcelona between 2008 and 2012. His managing period for Barca was very successful.
Guardiola defended Barcelona and Laporta and assured that the alleged bribery had no connection with the team's success. He called both Barca and Laporta are innocent until proven guilty.
Guardiola said in a press conference, "You didn’t see how good this team was, it was a scandal how well we played....Barca is innocent, Laporta is innocent, until the opposite is proven."
As a Barca manager, Guardiola won two UCL trophies, three successive La Liga titles, two UEFA Super Cups, two FIFA Club World Cups, two Copa del Reys, and three Supercopa de España.
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