Pique: Barcelona players weren’t involved in match-fixing

Tom Weber

• 20 Mar 2023 11:10 CDT
• 3 min read

Gerard Pique has become the latest high-profile figure to weigh in on the refereeing scandal involving Barcelona.

The Caso Negreira, the match-fixing allegations levelled at Barcelona and former Vice President of the Referee’s Committee Enriquez Negreira, has been rocking Spanish football for the last few weeks.

Blaugrana officials have admitted to receiving refereeing reports from Negreira, but denied allegations of outright buying referees to call in favour of Barcelona. The "consultancy" fees transferred to Negreira and his firm Dasnil 95 reportedly amounted to more than €7million.

Despite their repudiations, the Catalans were charged by the Prosecutor’s Office for "continued corruption between individuals in the sports field" and are still awaiting a punishment if found guilty.

READ: Laporta on Barcelona referee scandal: There’s a SMEAR campaign against us

In response, club president Joan Laporta insisted that Barcelona "are the victims of a horrible smear campaign," while ex-Blaugrana player Cesc Fabregas claimed that the players were unaware of any preferential treatment by referees.

"I had never heard anything like that when I was there," Fabregas told radio station Cadena SER, "but I don’t think that the players have to get involved because that is something that is far above us."

"Nothing happened with the players."

Now, Gerard Pique has revealed his side of the story, in which he echoes the statements of Laporta and Fabregas.

Speaking to El Pais, the former defender, who retired in November, said: “Nothing happened to the players. I never asked for anything. Others asked for reports from the opposing team and perhaps some did from the referees. I have no idea."

“At the group level," the 36-year-old concluded, "of course, we received nothing, but this is a topic that makes for conspiracies and newspaper covers. That’s what the country lives on. I think you have to teach the 'why' of things."

While reports claimed that Barca could be relegated as punishment for their questionable practices, AS recently reported that a hefty fine is the most likely outcome for the side currently on course to win their first LaLiga title since 2018/19.