Enric Masip accuses Real Madrid of exploiting the Negreira case

With the Clásico scheduled for next Sunday, Enric Masip, an adviser to Joan Laporta, has launched a fierce attack on Real Madrid. He portrayed the Negreira case as a means of “distorting the facts”, in the phrase used in his remarks, and accused the Madrid club of using it to damage FC Barcelona’s image.

A Spanish media outlet reported that Masip criticised Real Madrid’s repeated references to the case. He also accused the club of targeting FC Barcelona, La Liga, other clubs and the refereeing committee through its statements. In his view, the accusations divert attention from Real Madrid’s problems and harm Spanish clubs as a whole.

Masip denounced what he described as a strategy involving a coach, media outlets, television channels and clubs to shift the debate onto their biggest rival. He said the accusations were intended to tarnish FC Barcelona and that this made him feel “insulted and angry”. He added that nothing had been proved over three and a half years and that nothing would be, before defending the Catalan club’s titles and wins as the product of its style of play.

The adviser also accused Real Madrid of treating television debates like courts and reports like judicial rulings. He believes the repeated accusations damage La Liga, the federation and referees. He said “red lines” had been crossed and claimed Real Madrid was trying to deflect attention from its own difficulties. On Mourinho, he contrasted the manager’s sharp criticism with the respect Flick, in his view, shows when speaking about opponents.

The comments come after Masip said the accusations had affected neither FC Barcelona nor its dressing room. He also said he was convinced that pressure from Real Madrid would not affect the refereeing in the Clásico. On referees, he insisted: “I believe in the professionalism of referees. It is absurd to question it.”

He also addressed Arda Güler’s controversial elbow and an incident involving a goal by Lewandowski or Lamine at the Santiago Bernabéu. Masip said the footage of Güler was unclear, while maintaining that an elbow warrants a red card, and criticised what he saw as inconsistent media treatment of incidents.