Reuters
[Source: Reuters]
Barcelona may have won the LaLiga title on Sunday, but their outstanding domestic campaign has been somewhat overshadowed by turmoil off the pitch including deepening financial problems and a refereeing scandal that could drag on for years.
Spanish prosecutors in March filed a complaint over alleged payments Barcelona made from 2001 to 2018 totalling 7.3 million euros ($8 million) to firms owned by former refereeing official Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. A Barcelona court has agreed to take on the case.
Also in March, European soccer’s governing body UEFA opened its own formal investigation into the club, looking into the same payments.
The club has denied any wrongdoing, saying that it paid an external consultant who supplied it with “technical reports related to professional refereeing”, something many clubs do.
But Enriquez Negreira was the vice-president of the refereeing committee of the Spanish Football Association – one of the highest refereeing officials in the country – from 1993 to 2018, covering the entire period concerned.
However the case may play out it has dealt a massive blow to the club’s image, and could continue to do so as the legal process and UEFA’s separate probe drag on.
Barcelona claimed their 27th LaLiga title and first for four years after two first-half goals from Robert Lewandowski spurred them to a comfortable 4-2 victory over city rivals Espanyol.
Barca moved to 85 points from 34 matches and extended their lead at the summit to an unassailable 14 points over second-placed Real Madrid.
There was little time for jubilation, however, as the visitors had to quickly rush off the pitch after fulltime as several Espanyol fans invaded the field as Barca started to celebrate their title.
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