Barcelona on Friday announced that the club have initiated legal action against Real Madrid president Florentino Pérez, following what they described as inflammatory remarks about the Catalan side.
The move comes after recent comments made by Pérez in which he questioned Barcelona’s legitimacy and reignited references to the ongoing ‘Negreira Case’.
Pérez, who drew widespread attention across world football last month, had strongly criticised the Blaugrana during a press conference, also making claims about refereeing decisions and past league outcomes.
“I’ve won 7 Champions Leagues and 7 La Liga titles… I should have won 14 La Ligas but we were robbed. This season, they robbed us of 18 points in La Liga, we did a video on RMTV showing all the incidents.
“We are going to submit a dossier to UEFA so that they put an end to the case. The Negreira case, a sports corruption scandal, is still causing repercussions. There are referees from that era who are still officiating.”
In response, Barcelona confirmed on Friday that they had taken formal steps through a conciliation claim prior to filing a criminal complaint, accusing Pérez of slander.
According to Get Football News Spanish, in a statement shared on the club’s official social media platforms, Barcelona said, “Barcelona informs that, on this day, the mandatory conciliation claim prior to the filing of a criminal complaint for an offence of slander under Article 205 of the Penal Code has been submitted against the President of Real Madrid, Mr. Florentino Pérez, as a result of the statements made by him at the press conference held on 12 May and in an interview with a media outlet the following day.
“The purpose of this claim is for Mr. Pérez to retract certain statements that he made with knowledge of their falsity and which are slanderous and offensive to the image and reputation of the Club.
“Should this claim not be duly addressed, FC Barcelona will proceed with the filing of the corresponding criminal complaint.”
