The extremely hostile atmosphere of the San Mamés stadium certified that the Negreira case contains shock waves. Shouts of “A Segunda” and hundreds of bills stamped with the word mafia thrown into the air from the stands confirmed that the reputational stain on FC Barcelona is spreading without remission. The sustained payment for 17 years by four presidents other than the former number two of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) finds no counterweight in the official Barça discourse because it is served in drops and from a victimist position, destined for undemanding audiences. or convinced for life that conspiracy theories explain everything. Being evident that digesting that an all-powerful and influential institution by nature such as Real Madrid appears as possibly harmed by the arbitration treatment is worse than swallowing a powder in August, it is no less so that the original sin comes on this occasion from the bowels of the Camp Nou and not those of Chamartín. Alluding to an orchestrated campaign as the source of the problem is to distract attention in vain if the view is medium or long term.

The issue is thorny enough to be taken seriously. The Prosecutor’s Office accuses FC Barcelona, ??already convicted as an entity in 2016 for tax fraud for the signing of Neymar, and several of its former representatives (the presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu and the former executives Òscar Grau and Albert Soler) of possible crimes of corruption between individuals and unfair administration. The Prosecutor’s Office concludes in its brief that the money collected by Enríquez Negreira was intended, literally, to “favor Barça in the decision-making of the referees in the matches played by the club.” The statement is as serious as it is difficult to demonstrate, but its spectacular nature has led to bombastic headlines both in Spain and abroad.

Beyond the path that the judicial procedure takes, the case could have another derivative in the form of a sports sanction if UEFA decides to intervene. The body that governs European football, discontent by the way with Barça for its determined commitment to the Super League, has in its power to withdraw the Catalan club’s access to European competitions for a year if it considers that it is involved in a case of corruption. It would be the power in this case of the UEFA Disciplinary and Ethics Committee to act or not.

In Spain, sports legislation, through the application of the Sports Law, establishes that infractions, however serious they may be, prescribe after three years, so there is no possible sanction. Perhaps that is why they have announced that so many clubs and institutions will appear in the legal case. Specifically, all those in the First Division through LaLiga, as well as Real Madrid on its own, the Spanish Football Federation and the Higher Sports Council (CSD), that is, a body dependent on the Government.

All the environmental noise (San Mamés as an example), added to the overwhelming pressure from the Madrid-based media asking for heads in their editorials and the growing disenchantment of some Barcelona sectors at the lack of explanations, have not changed the script. from Laporta. The president continues to allude to an external attack in his sporadic appearances while waiting for a final press conference that is announced from time to time but for which no date is set. There has also been talk of a supposed joint appearance of all the presidents involved, from Gaspart to Bartomeu, to appear before the social mass through a unitary message, but the stamp is more of a promoted dream with no chance of success than a truly achievable project. .

Time passes and Laporta insists on categorically denying the purchase of referees but does not resolve the most urgent questions: In exchange for what did Enríquez Negreira receive seven million euros between 2003 and 2018? If it was for advice, why does the Prosecutor’s Office claim that it has not received any material from the club that demonstrates the existence of these works? Why were the fees for these tasks so extremely high? Why did internal control mechanisms fail for so many years? Do they exist? And finally, what was the route of the money that Enríquez Negreira received? Was it all for him or were there third party beneficiaries?