Guti mocks Laporta over the Negreira case

In comments about the Negreira case, former Real Madrid star José María Gutiérrez, known as Guti, took a sarcastic swipe at Joan Laporta. Barcelona’s president has defended the Catalan club’s innocence, while payments to José María Enríquez Negreira, a former vice-president of the referees’ committee, continued under several presidencies, including Laporta’s first term. Guti accused him of contradicting himself.

Guti spoke on the Spanish programme « El Chiringuito » in response to recent remarks by Laporta. Laporta had maintained that Barcelona was innocent and criticised Real Madrid, accusing the club of arrogance and pretension in its handling of the case.

The former player said: « Now he’s giving us lessons on how to run the club, when he was one of the presidents who paid him ». Guti then added sarcastically: « Well, I’m convinced Florentino Pérez has heard him and will take his words seriously, and that he’ll take seriously everything Laporta says about Real Madrid ».

The exchange comes as the Negreira case continues. Earlier, Real Madrid had taken steps before the Spanish courts and submitted documents to the Union, which had reopened Barcelona’s case to examine the information it received.