First the members of the club and the culés fans through the press conference on Monday, then LaLiga, Tebas and the rest of the presidents of Spanish clubs and now the president of UEFA. Joan Laporta is giving his face and explanations once the conclusions of the investigation that the club commissioned into the Negreira case are known. The president of Barcelona traveled to Slovenia this Thursday to meet Aleksander Ceferin, president of the highest European body, to explain to him in person about the Negreira case.
This was confirmed by EFE from sources close to the environment of the Barça president. Laporta traveled via London, where he previously met representative Pini Zahavi, agent, among others, of Robert Lewandowski.
A few weeks ago, the Barça leader had already sent written explanations to the UEFA president, but this time he wanted to convey to him the progress in the internal investigation that he had already revealed to the media at a massive press conference in Barcelona.
In his appearance, Laporta had shown a conciliatory mood with the president of UEFA. "Fortunately, Ceferin has acted prudently and is acting responsibly," the president commented conciliatory. A very different mood from that expressed with the president of LaLiga, Javier Tebas, and with respect to the actions of Real Madrid, which has appeared in the case, an issue that he dismissed as "an exercise in cynicism."
The intention of the Barcelona leader was to inform Ceferin in person that the Catalan club has never bought referees and that it has not paid any amount to influence them either. In addition, Laporta would have made the UEFA president see that Barcelona could have been a victim in all this matter, so he could appear as an accusation in the case. On his day, Ceferin described the case as "extremely serious."
The meeting takes place a month before UEFA has to decide on the participation of the Barça club in the next edition of the continental competitions. These tournaments are organized by UEFA, which has the power to leave Barça without playing in Europe for a year without having to wait for a court ruling.
