A year ago, Florentino Pérez called for calm. “I’m not going to get angry with Barça. Real Madrid and Barcelona have to help each other,” he said during the Assembly. Today, the tone has changed. And so has the distance. The Real Madrid president has abandoned any sense of institutional courtesy by reopening the Negreira case with unprecedented firmness.

“It is not normal that Barcelona paid the vice president of the referees’ association more than 8 million euros over at least 17 years, whatever the reason,” Florentino Pérez told the club members. He repeated the phrase to underline its severity. He also reminded them that Enríquez Negreira held “a key position in the refereeing hierarchy,” responsible for communicating referee promotions and demotions. “A period that, coincidentally, matches Barcelona’s best sporting results in Spain,” he added.

His speech was supported by several charts, including one comparing both clubs in terms of red card balance. “Real Madrid had a net balance of two red cards in 2021. Barcelona had 61. That is a difference of 59. Yet during the same period, their balance in European competitions is almost identical: +12 for Barça and +13 for Madrid,” he explained. He also extended this comparison to other leagues. “Bayern and Dortmund share the same balance, and the same applies to other major leagues. Barcelona’s red card balance during Negreira’s period was +49, and Real Madrid’s was –1. Draw your own conclusions.”

From there, his tone became even more direct. “Real Madrid is the only club that has appeared in court. Four presidents maintained multimillion-euro payments to the vice president of the referees’ association for 17 years,” he noted. He also criticized the position of CTA president Fran Soto. “He asks us to forget the Negreira case. Who is going to forget it?” He then pointed out that many of the referees involved are still active. “This situation prevents them from acting with neutrality.”

Florentino also used a recent episode to highlight the ongoing tension. “How is it possible that, before a Copa del Rey final, a referee said the referees were going to take action against our club? Before a final. He should have been removed from the match, and nothing happened.”

He concluded his remarks by questioning LaLiga’s role in the incidents involving Barcelona and the match that was planned in Miami. “Not even their captain, Frenkie de Jong, believes it is normal,” he said regarding the attempt to play an official match there. “And it is not normal that LaLiga supports two teams, Barcelona and Villarreal, with additional financial incentives for playing in Miami. And then we have to listen to Mr. Tebas try to compare this to the NFL.”

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