On Sunday, Real Madrid held their General Assembly, which was hosted by esteemed club president Florentino Perez. One of the topics discussed was Barcelona, and in particular, the allegations against them in the Negreira case.

It has been almost three years since news first broke of Barcelona making payments to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA). The Catalans insist that these were not illegal, nor do they imply sporting corruption – which they are currently being accused of.

Real Madrid are prepared to stand against Barcelona in this case, and during the Assembly, Perez spoke out on the matter, as per Diario AS.

“It is not normal that Barcelona has paid the vice-president of the referees more than €8m euros for at least 17 years – whatever the reason. The vice-president of refereeing, who had important functions. A period that coincides, coincidentally, with Barcelona’s best results in our country.

“And Real Madrid is the only one that has appeared in the trial of the ‘Negreira case’. Four presidents have maintained millionaire payments for 17 years to the vice president of the referees. Fran Soto has asked for a turn of the page. And he asks that “we forget the ‘Negreira case’. Who will forget it? The reality is that most of the referees of the ‘Negreira case’ are still there… It will remain forever.”

Perez cites red card statistics during argument

Perez would go on to discuss the matter further, as he used Barcelona and Real Madrid’s respective red card records in La Liga.

“We will agree that expulsions imply the highest degree of subjectivity. Well, look. I am going to give a significant number of expulsions, on which a greater degree of subjectivity and impact on the game falls.

“In the 21st century, Real Madrid has a negative balance of -2, 126 reds to our team and 124 to the rivals. Barça’s is +61, 108 own reds and 169 to opponents. In Europe, on the other hand, we have the same balance, +12 for Barça and +13 for Real Madrid. The balance of expulsions during Negreira’s time, Barcelona’s balance was +49 and Real Madrid’s, -1. Draw your own conclusions…”