The Spanish league is once again going beyond the football pitch and two irreconcilable rivals are once again starring. Real Madrid and Barcelona. The Catalan club not only feels wronged by the white ballet’s last league game against Almeria, but is getting the impression that all this season the referees have acted only in favour of the team from the Spanish capital.
El Clasico. A duel between two irreconcilable rivals that always brings huge emotions. In recent years, however, the traditional duel has gone beyond the pitch and the atmosphere between the two clubs is tense.
We’ve all become accustomed to fans of both camps teasing each other on social media. Pointing out wrong verdicts of referees, looking for controversial moments and long dialogues in the comments under the posts are simply part of it thanks to the growing reach of social networks. But rarely do disputes move beyond the level of fan provocation to the level of club officials.
The case of Enrique Negreira
A case in which Barcelona is being investigated for allegedly bribing referees. According to the judge, Negreira was involved in the performance of public duties at a time when he was also being paid by the Catalan club. The former referee received more than 8 million euros. The judge further claims that the Catalan club stopped paying him at the time Negreira left his post.
The case itself is currently still under investigation and new testimonies are being taken. Barcelona denies any culpability. The latest details from the time Negreira held the vice-presidency come from leaked statements from around 20 referees.
These testimonies allege that referees ate at Negreira’s restaurant in Barcelona, while luxury cars were often sent to pick up referees from their hotels and take them to Camp Nou. Barcelona reportedly considered this a courtesy.
The origins of this scandal have caused even more hatred between the clubs. At one press conference, rejecting accusations of referee interference, Catalan club president Joan Laporta leaned on Real Madrid, which he said had a long history of benefiting from the favour of dictator Francesco Franco.
Real Madrid reacted to the words with a video on social media, highlighting the connection between Franco and Barcelona. The video itself pointed out that Barcelona had awarded the Spanish dictator three medals and made him an honorary member of the club in 1965. It also points to the fact that Barcelona won La Liga eight times and nine Spanish Cups during the Franco regime, while Real went fifteen years without a league title.
Vinícius deserves a slap.
“It’s not racism, but he deserves a slap for the clown he is. What are these useless midfield tackles?” Miquel Camps wrote on Twitter after Real Madrid’s match at Braga. According to the official Catalan website, a board member and deputy spokesman.
He later deleted his post, but too late as it was noticed by the wider footballing public and even the players themselves. Another Real Madrid striker, Rodrygo, responded by saying: “That’s pathetic“.
Events of the last days
During the last league round, both clubs secured the win at the very end of the game. Barcelona snatched a victory at the ground of the unpredictable Betis, while Real Madrid unexpectedly hoped for a win against the last-place Almeria.
During the second half, the White Ballet had to make up for a two-goal deficit, which they eventually did and Dani Carvajal’s goal in the ninth minute of stoppage time meant the three points stayed at the Santiago Bernabéu.
The referee dealt with more than one tricky situation during the match. Almería’s disallowed goal or Vinícius’ goal became the subject of heated debate. “I saw it. If I talk, I will have a problem. But everybody saw it,” Xavi commented on the events. “I’ve said it before in Getafe, things were happening that didn’t seem right. It will be very difficult to win the league. There are situations that we can’t control, but everyone sees it,” continued the Barcelona coach.
It didn’t take long for Real Madrid to respond via Real Madrid TV. “The fact that Xavi comes out with such statements never ceases to surprise. The world is upside down. They are smokescreens, which he can do very well,” Miguel Ángel Muñoz said in the broadcast.
“It’s interesting that Xavi finds the things that happen in LaLiga strange and it seems normal to him that for practically his entire football career, 20 years, his club has been paying the vice-president of referees around 8 million,” the Real Madrid TV director said.
“For 20 years. In total, we counted 600 matches of Mr Xavi Hernández’s career as a Barcelona player. We don’t say it, the judge says it, the prosecutor says it, the Civil Guard says it… Those 600 matches are suspicious. That’s the reality. His club is accused. The whole time Xavi was a Barcelona player is being investigated,” added Jesús Alcaide.
The director of the Catalan club also commented on the situation. Juan Laporta revealed in an interview with Mundo Deportivo that he has filed an official complaint with the Football Federation. The competition, in light of the events at the Santiago Bernabéu on Sunday, could not be more rigged, he said.
All these attacks through official social media accounts are completely unnecessary, unprofessional and only have the opposite effect. More animosity amongst the fans and more obsession with the rival club. Unlike the offending individuals, at least the official accounts should maintain professionalism and not resolve disputes in this way.
Why is Girona neglected?
Xavi’s words that it will be difficult to win the title are true, but unfortunately, once again, completely unnecessarily and biased against Real Madrid.
The Spanish coach is forgetting one very important aspect – Girona. The latter is still first in the league table and Barcelona is eight points behind it. Despite this, we hear constant references only to Real Madrid in the context of the title fight and the smaller Catalan club is somehow forgotten. However, if Girona defends its position and finishes ahead of Barcelona in the league table, all these statements are actually completely unnecessary.
We can ask ourselves why Girona is not complaining too and why the whole Barcelona management keeps referring to Real Madrid as if there is no other candidate for the title? Girona deserve to be shown more respect and deference. Joan Laporta mentioned that the whole league is rigged so that the white ballet wins it. But he’s not even officially running it yet.
Do Real Madrid and Barcelona have anything to blame each other for?
Let’s take a step back from Sunday’s game, which so raised the almonds of the whole of Catalonia, and ask the question. Do these two clubs have anything to blame each other for? Of course not.
The constant rehashing of dubiously handled situations of the last few days or across the last few years is absurd. For every such argument from one side, there is a response from the other. Joan Laporta, when interviewed, mentioned the foul on Jude Bellingham that preceded Almería’s disallowed goal.
“When Bellingham was on the ground, he looked at the referee as if to say ‘Let’s see if I deceived him or not,'” said the Catalan club president. One could respond to something similar with former Barcelona midfielder Sergio Busquets’ famous moment in the Champions League match against Inter Milan. That was when he rolled to the ground after being hit not even in the face, grabbed his face and, lying on the ground, uncovered one eye to see if a foul had been whistled.
A Barcelona fan will point to the controversial penalty against Cristiano Ronaldo in the match against Celta Vigo, whereupon a Real Madrid fan will respond with a penalty against Jordi Alba against Eibar, for example, when the Spanish defender kicked himself into the ground without any fault of his own and gained the advantage of a penalty kick for his teammates.
A Real Madrid fan can mention the 2009 Champions League match played by the Catalans at Chelsea, whereupon a Barcelona fan can counter with Real’s offside goals against Bayern Munich in 2017.
In simple terms, it could be said that every fan has in his memory the very controversial situations of his unpopular club and, over the years, he is ready to use them when it is simply convenient and when he needs to defend his club.
And we can go on and on like this. There will always be complaints about the referees and controversy will always be with us. But sometimes they are unnecessarily exacerbated by the fan camps and it is even sadder when the official club accounts add to it.
Everyone sees injustice with the team they support. Something like a clear penalty comes to mind at that particular moment, but a few days later you see an almost identical tackle differently because it was against your team. Controversy will always arise and there will always be one side simply unhappy.
Image source: X(@fcbarcelona), Source: Livesport, X, Marca