The ongoing war of words between arch rivals Barcelona and Real Madrid has today taken a fresh twist.
The subject of relations between Spanish football’s two biggest clubs has of course returned to the fore in a major way over the course of the last 48 hours.
This comes after both Barcelona head coach Xavi Hernández, and president Joan Laporta, aimed less-than-subtle digs at Real Madrid.
Both jibes came in relation to Los Blancos’ La Liga victory over Almería on Sunday, which saw Carlo Ancelotti’s troops aided on their way to a three-goal comeback by way of a whole host of VAR decisions.
As a result, it should hardly come as all that much of a surprise to hear of Real, today, hitting back.
In a fiery response by way of Real Madrid TV – the club’s in-house media channel – the capital heavyweights alluded to the ongoing ‘Negreira case’ as reason for their Clásico rivals to keep to themselves.
This comes as Barcelona continue to be investigated for paying out over seven million euro over a period of 18 years to José María Enríquez Negreira – the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees in Spain.
The Blaugrana, for their part, have long maintained their innocence in the affair, but those at Real Madrid TV nevertheless appear to have their minds made up:
“It is curious that Xavi is interested in the refereeing at the Bernabeu when FC Barcelona has been paying the number 2 of the referees for years,” it was asserted, as cited by Goal. “Xavi has played more than 600 matches with Barca, so these 600 matches are under suspicion.”
Conor Laird | GSFN
