Amid the possibility of Lionel Messi returning to Barcelona, the Spanish Giants seek to rebuild their reputation.
Barcelona has called for La Liga President Javier Tebas to resign after he allegedly provided false evidence against the Spanish giants in the ongoing Negreira case.
According to the Spanish outlet La Vanguardia, Tebas narrated documents to prosecutors to implicate the club and two former Barcelona presidents as part of the investigation into payments made to the former vice president of the refereeing committee in Spain.
In a sharp-worded statement on their website, Barcelona demanded an explanation and resignation from Tebas.
“Given the gravity of the information that has appeared today Monday in La Vanguardia in which La Liga president Javier Tebas is linked to the presentation of false evidence to the public prosecutor to incriminate our club, FC Barcelona wishes to expresses its deepest indignation, anger and dismay,”
“For that reason, we urgently require the La Liga president to appear in public to explain himself, beyond the tweet sent in the early hours by Mr.Tebas, lacking substance and with a threatening tone, ” the club added in a statement.
In addition, Barcelona voiced that Tebas had set ill intentions to further harm the famed football team.
“Mr.Tebas should resign from his post. Nevertheless, aware of his obsession with persecuting FC Barcelona and showing his constant averse and manifest dislike of our Club, we understand that the current La Liga president will persist in his efforts to keep damaging our club,” Barcelona added, ending their statement.
Tebas has since responded on his social media accounts to say denounce the articles by La Vanguardia as slander.
Difamación y acoso son las noticias falsas que escribe @JorgeCalabres al dictado de la billetera de @PedroJ_Ramirez. Hablar de fakenews, de portaCoz, o de "pastillas para mentir" es lo mínimo. Poco reparo para difamar y luego piel muy fina. Si vas tergiversar ven llorado de casa. https://t.co/NebhSHccBR
— Javier Tebas Medrano (@Tebasjavier) April 4, 2023
Caught up in a financial wound, Barcelona is under investigation due to payments valued over €7 million made to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice president of the refereeing committee, between 2001 and 2018.
Separate from the La Liga breakdown, UEFA has launched its own investigation into the “dirty wallet” of Barca, which the competition’s President Aleksander Ceferin dubbed “one of the most serious issues” in football.
Barcelona president Joan Laporta has continued defending the club, saying, “Barca have never bought referees.”
“It is not the first time that the president of La Liga has used the media weapons at his disposal to damage FC Barcelona, however, in contrast to his usual nonsense, we could never have imagined that he could try to incriminate our club with false evidence,” the statement expressed in regards to Tebas.
The news of the brawl between Barca and the football leagues comes at a crucial moment for Camp Nou as the team has taken on formal negotiations with Lionel Messi.
French outlet L’Equipe recently reported that the French champions have offered Messi a contract requiring him to reduce his salary significantly.
Remaining optimistic, Barcelona has been rumored to work with sponsors to help finance a move for their hometown hero.
