At this moment, the Barcelona and Negrrera scandal has become one of the favorite topics of the Spanish media, especially considering that there are always developments in the current court case.
Over the past few months, several former Barcelona presidents, coaches and other influential figures have been called to testify and make payments over the alleged “buying” of results in the Catalans’ favor.
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Most recently, Joan Gaspart, who was Barcelona president from 2000 to 2003, was called to give evidence by the court, which he gave on Friday.
Former president reveals his statement
Earlier today, Gaspart spoke to the media after making a statement in court, slamming Real Madrid for needlessly escalating the incident and damaging the sport.
“I think they have unintentionally done a lot of damage to football. Not to Barca anymore, but to football.”
Elaborating on the content of his statement in court, the former club president insisted that Barcelona had not bought referees at any time, including during his tenure as president.
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“This is a lie. I have repeated the word lie 33 times. Barcelona has never bought a referee, neither during my time as vice-president nor as president.” [Under] Laporta, Bartomeu, Rosell and all the Barcelona executives. “
“I made it very clear until the judge himself agreed with me and told me you have said it several times. But I want to repeat it.” He added how he made his point.
Real Madrid have been delaying their investigation into Barcelona’s Negreira case. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
Gaspart said the club faced all the unfair hatred for a crime it never committed,
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“Barcelona are wrong to be accused of illegal conduct. Paying someone to tell a referee to pay a university to win me Barcelona is a lie and when it is a lie it is a lie.”
When asked again by the press whether such a deal had never been made during his presidency, he angrily said:
“Barcelona has never done anything illegal since Mr. Gamper founded it until my death, because after that I will no longer be there and I will not be able to say anything illegal.”
“It’s illegal to pay referees to support you. I don’t understand why they want people to believe that.” he added.
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He further detailed the compelling arguments he made in court and spoke of how it was almost impossible for the football world to be manipulated and corrupted.
“You think people are dying of heart attacks because they suffer on the pitch, imagine if they knew football was corrupt…? Come on.”
“I, the president of Barcelona, will I leave Barcelona when they take away my handkerchief? If I can buy games, I am an idiot. You must be a fool.” he added.
Finally, he called for a better understanding of the situation and spoke of how unfair what Barcelona is going through is very unfair.
“What was done was so cruel, not only against Barcelona. I just came back from China and he asked me what happened because they didn’t reveal the details and the club was accused.”
“Football is not corrupt and if people thought about it they would accuse it,” he added.
Source: Marca