Barcelona-Seville, the match. And rather twice than once… Before facing the Catalans this Friday, at the opening of the eighth day of La Liga, the Andalusian club issued a vitriolic and especially incriminating press release concerning the so-called Negreira affair. Press release which pays little attention to the presumption of innocence. Remember that we are talking about an arbitration scandal involving FC Barcelona. Former senior official in Spanish arbitration, the so-called José Maria Enriquez Negreira is at the heart of the investigation and this scandal has been poisoning the life of Barça for months. The club denies any irregularity in this matter.
“We express our total indignation and our condemnation of the actions carried out by the former FC Barcelona officials indicted in the Negreira affair”, we indicate in this famous press release from Seville, specifying that they have “suspended the normal protocol” from before -match and determined that no one will represent Sevilla FC in the VIP box at the Montjuic stadium. “We respect the Spanish judicial system, the presumption of innocence and all decisions that can be taken in any direction by the competent courts and disciplinary bodies,” we further assure.
Obviously, Barcelona’s response was quick. Evoking “an unjustified and inappropriate attack on Sevilla FC”, and speaking of the “contempt” of its leaders, who did not respect the protocol, the Catalan club believes that “the positioning of Sevilla FC clearly prejudges the facts which, in no way case, and in none of its preliminaries and hypotheticals, are accredited”. And added: “The action of Sevilla FC is also totally incongruous given that, on the one hand, it evokes the presumption of innocence and, on the other hand, it denies its exercise at FC Barcelona in the legal procedure in progress. Given this unacceptable and unjustified position of Sevilla FC, FC Barcelona considers that all relations with the Sevillian institution are broken, as long as it does not rectify its current position. Atmosphere…