A little more than an hour after Madrid issued a statement confirming that it will appear as a private prosecution when the justice investigates the cause of the Negreira case, the first reaction from Barcelona came. The person in charge of carrying it out was the president of Barcelona, Joan Laporta, who used his Twitter account to make a staunch defense of the club he directs.
"Culés, be calm. Barça is innocent of what they are accused of and the victim of a campaign against their honor in which we are all now involved. No surprise, we will defend Barça and demonstrate the club's innocence," Laporta wrote.
Along the same lines as a few days ago, the Blaugrana president insists that an orchestrated campaign is being woven to question the Barcelona successes of the last 20 years. Laporta wanted to come out of the way of the decision of the Madrid board to position itself and appear in the Negreira case "given the seriousness of the facts" of which Barcelona is accused. It should be remembered that on Friday the Barcelona Prosecutor's Office detailed its complaint against Barça, the former presidents of the club Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, the former vice president of the referees Enríquez Negreira and the former Barcelona executives Albert Soler and Òscar Grau. The Prosecutor's Office denounces the alleged crimes of corruption between individuals in the sports field, unfair administration and documentary falsification.
Madrid has only done to follow in the footsteps of LaLiga, chaired by Javier Tebas, and the Spanish Federation, led by Luis Rubiales. Both agencies also announced that they would appear as a private prosecution. Then Barça did not make any statement or quick response. Now, after Madrid's movement a few days after the classic, a swift reaction from Barcelona has indeed arrived.
At the Barcelona club on Saturday, the white maneuver met with a certain surprise. Madrid, which had remained silent unlike other teams and a great ally of Barcelona in the Super League, was not expected to manifest in this line.
