Real Madrid demand Javier Tebas resignation and full disclosure of Negreira payments

Real Madrid have called for Javier Tebas to resign immediately and demanded a full explanation of the payments made by Barcelona to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, in a strongly worded statement responding to the La Liga president.

The club said Tebas had compared the methods used by its management to those of Joseph Goebbels, the propaganda minister under the Nazi regime. Real Madrid also accused him of suggesting that the club’s television channel was being used as a tool of that alleged strategy.

In its statement, Real Madrid said Tebas’s comments had damaged the club’s reputation and called for his immediate departure from his position.

The club also criticised the lack of a response from the two institutions in which Tebas holds responsibilities. It said it had therefore approached UEFA directly to request the full disclosure of the payments Barcelona made to Negreira over a number of years.

The Negreira case centres on payments made by Barcelona to Negreira, a former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees. Real Madrid and Barcelona have become involved in a bitter dispute over the issue.

Real Madrid said it would continue defending its rights and pressing for all the circumstances surrounding the case to be made public. It also called for a “comprehensive and necessary reform” of Spanish football.

The club is seeking a complete overhaul of the refereeing system and of the Spanish Football Federation’s structures for governance, administration, supervision and discipline. It said this should include changing the people who held positions of responsibility during the period in question.

Real Madrid also questioned Tebas’s priorities, saying it was “particularly striking” that he was devoting his efforts to damaging the club’s reputation rather than using his institutional responsibilities to clarify serious facts and deliver the necessary reform and clean-up of Spanish football.

The statement was issued after Real Madrid responded to comments made by Tebas and the vice-president of the Spanish Football Federation.

Real Madrid are preparing to face Sevilla in the ninth round of La Liga next Sunday. They are fourth in the table with 18 points, six behind leaders Barcelona.

Atletico Madrid and Real Betis occupy second and third place respectively, each one point ahead of Real Madrid.