Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez has spoken about the referees in his traditional Christmas speech in an event with the media, and has lamented that they remain the only institution "pushing for justice" about the Negreira case, the finding that FC Barcelona had been making secret payments to the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) in Spain, for 7.3 million euros between 2001 and 2018.
The case is currently in the courts, with the club as defendant, and last week the current president of the club, Joan Laporta, testified, and maintained that those payments were made for reports on referees and players, "useful" on a sporting perspective. Two former managers, Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde, also testified last week, and both said that they knew nothing about those reports. "Who can believe that these payments were made for reports which the coaches didn't even know existed?", said Pérez, adding that "the 'Negreira case' is the most serious case in football today".
Florentino Pérez said that "Christmas is also a time for reflection, and Real Madrid's biggest concern is the refereeing situation", and that "it is completely incomprehensible that the institutions have left Real Madrid alone in this fight. How can the president of the referees ask us to forget it? How can we forget the biggest scandal in the history of football? How can the RFEF (Royal Spanish Football Federation) and LaLiga behave this way? They have a duty to ensure integrity."
Pérez also commented on last night's match against Alavés, which Real Madrid won 2-1, but had a controversial moment when the VAR did not ask the referee to check a potential penalty on Vinícius: "Yesterday, we were officiated by a referee who threatened to take action against our club on the eve of the Copa del Rey final. And it seems the fouls suffered by Vinicius and Rodrygo weren't penalties. That's the latest in a long line of incidents this season."
"It's possible that some clubs have been relegated as a result of the 'Negreira case'. Our football has been damaged, and justice must be served", Pérez concluded in his Christmas speech.