Florentino Pérez, a man with a short memory

BarcelonaHearing Florentino Pérez claim that "the Negreira case is the biggest scandal in football history" is infuriating. You have to have a short memory, act in bad faith, or know very little about football to say something so foolish. In world football, clubs like Juventus and AC Milan have been relegated to the Second Division for sporting offenses, teams controlled by mafia groups have been discovered, people have been murdered, and we've seen dictatorships with blood on their hands organize tournaments and manage clubs as if nothing were wrong. Dictatorships with which Florentino profits.

But now it turns out that the biggest scandal in football history is the Negreira case. We have an open case in Turkey with more than 100 referees involved in a betting ring, evidence that votes were bought to host World Cups, and Benito Mussolini pressuring referees in 1934, but according to Pérez, this case is worse. Worse than the Di Stéfano case, for example. It's laughable.

Pérez is playing the populist card. When he says these things, he's speaking to his club members and fans. That's the role he has to play. It's normal for Barcelona fans to be angry and defend themselves, and to remind the Real Madrid president that they don't have a spotless record either. But Barcelona fans can't just look the other way and pretend nothing happened. What should really hurt Barça fans is that their board has given Florentino Pérez ammunition with these strange payments to Negreira and his family.

If the Real Madrid president can raise his voice, it's because there's an open case with operations that are baffling, like those €60,000 in 2005 for "aloe vera gifts." It's one thing to say that Barça manipulated the competition by bribing referees, as Real Madrid claims without any clear evidence, and quite another to assume that the Catalan club acted perfectly in this case.

It's hard to understand the reason for these exorbitant payments for supposed consulting services that the club's coaches don't recall. It's hard to understand the figures, and especially hard to understand the chosen partners—a lack of foresight. It's necessary to know if someone here wanted to dip into the till or if it was simply an exchange of favors between people who had known each other for years. Let's be honest. What would Barcelona fans say if Real Madrid had engaged in these dealings? It's legitimate to rebel against Florentino's attacks, but it should also be legitimate to demand the whole truth about this case. Florentino has a short memory when he wants to, but it's worrying that many witnesses at Barça also don't remember anything about this case.