🎙️ Marçal Lorente (MD) on the Negreira case:
— “We live in an era of fabricated narratives and fake news, where repeated lies blasted through powerful loudspeakers seem to become indisputable truths, despite being far from reality.”
— “In the Negreira case, Barcelona was judged in advance and in the media without a shred of evidence. Their right to the presumption of innocence was violated without even a trial. What’s shocking is the complacency of Barça officials in the face of this frenzied smear campaign.”
— “First, they claimed bribery despite no financial corruption and the fact that referees are not public officials. Then they insisted there was sporting corruption and demanded the stripping of legally won titles, despite zero proof or any referee acknowledging that Barça was ever helped. The payments appear solely linked to refereeing consultancy services, which all clubs use.”
— “But Real Madrid, as a private accuser, exploited the situation to market it as “buying referees” and to build their artificial narrative—twisting historical facts that show their club has always been the one most favored by referees. They never needed to pay; they placed their men in top refereeing and administrative positions.”
— “Now, beyond tarnishing Barça’s image, they use this to undermine the credibility of referees and the reforms that replaced the federation president, the refereeing committee, and the appointments board—because what they truly reject is refereeing independence. They want to regain the historic control they have always enjoyed.”