Barcelona starts legal action against Pérez over Negreira claims

Barcelona have filed a mandatory conciliation request against Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez as a preliminary step towards a possible criminal complaint for slander.The action relates to comments Pérez made at a press conference on May 12 and in an interview the following day concerning Barcelona and the Negreira case.Barcelona are demanding that Pérez retract statements the club considers knowingly false, offensive and damaging to their reputation.Barcelona stated: “The objective of this lawsuit is for Mr Pérez to retract certain statements that he made with knowledge of their falsehood and that are slanderous and offensive to the image and reputation of the club.“In the event that this demand is not duly addressed, FC Barcelona will proceed to file the corresponding criminal complaint.”The conciliation process is required under Spanish law before a criminal complaint for slander can be lodged under Article 205 of the Penal Code.Pérez accused Barcelona of corruption and suggested Real Madrid had been deprived of up to seven LaLiga titles during the period covered by the Negreira investigation.The case concerns payments Barcelona made between 2001 and 2018 to companies linked to José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice-president of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees.Barcelona have consistently denied buying favourable refereeing decisions and maintain that the payments covered technical reports and consultancy services concerning match officials.The legal move follows reports that Real Madrid submitted a dossier to UEFA seeking sanctions against Barcelona, potentially including exclusion from European competition and action over titles won during the period under scrutiny.No final judicial ruling has established that Barcelona manipulated matches, while the underlying criminal proceedings remain unresolved.The escalation turns an already hostile institutional relationship into a direct legal confrontation between Barcelona and Pérez, who recently secured another term as Real Madrid president.It also raises commercial and governance concerns for LaLiga and UEFA, with the two clubs among the largest drivers of domestic and international broadcast audiences, sponsorship value and global fan engagement.Barcelona’s action places the immediate decision with Pérez, who must choose whether to retract or defend his statements before the dispute can progress to a formal criminal complaint.