Former Barcelona defender Gerard Pique has stated that former players were unaware of payments made by the Catalan club to Enrique Negreira, a former vice president of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees.
Pique also defended Barcelona, stating that the club did not resort to unethical practices or receive favors from referees to achieve their success.
Spanish prosecutors have filed a corruption complaint against Barcelona regarding alleged payments made to a former vice-president of Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees.
Real Madrid has expressed concern about the allegations and is prepared to appear at any trial stemming from the investigation. However, Pique denies any wrongdoing and is confident that Barcelona did not buy referees to win games.
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He stated that the players were not aware of any payments made to the former top-tier referee’s company during his time at the club. Pique emphasized that Barcelona’s success was due to their superiority over their rivals and not because of any dependence on referees.
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“I would put my hand in the fire that Barca have not bought referees. If you want to buy a referee it’s as easy as going and paying him directly with black money, not paying a vice-president of the committee with an invoice.”
“The players don’t know that. I don’t know if this gentleman’s job was to help in this, but as players we were out of it,” Pique said.
Barcelona’s current president, Joan Laporta, has also denied the accusations being made against the club.
“No matter how much they want to smear, that was a golden era. It’s not just the titles won, but how they were won,” Pique said.
“You can review everything: we were far superior. We didn’t depend on the referee, for better or for worse.“
