Bribery scandal plagues Barcelona ahead of crucial Europa League test

Barcelona will play Manchester United on Thursday to secure its European future, but the club also faces a simmering controversy about relationships with Spanish referees.

Two weeks ago, it was reported that FC Barcelona gave José María Enríquez Negreira, the former VP of Spain's refereeing committee, 1.2M euros ($1,278,186) between 2016-18. Further digging uncovered 7M euros of payments dating to 2001.

Barcelona did not deny the report, commenting that Negreira was simply an "external consultant" and that such relationships were, and remain, "a common practice." 

Negreira agreed, adding that Barcelona was not paying him to ensure refereeing favors, but rather to ensure refereeing neutrality. 

"FCB wanted to ensure that refereeing decisions were not taken against them," he told inspectors, as reported by the Guardian. "That is to say, that everything was neutral."

However, the Guardian also reported that when Barcelona eliminated Negreira's services in 2018, he demanded hundreds of thousands of euros in outstanding payments and threatened to reveal Barcelona's "irregularities" if they were not disbursed. 

Negreira never acted upon the alleged threat, and his paid relationship with Barcelona only came to light as part of a wider tax audit. But many, including other soccer clubs in Spain, believe that the alleged threat implies anything but the "neutrality" Barcelona was allegedly seeking.

In fact, they believe it's a smoking gun that proves Barcelona paid refereeing officials in exchange for softer calls. In a meeting with La Liga officials, 18 of the league's 20 clubs agreed to file a joint statement of concern about the case.

Spanish newspaper AS reported that Barcelona is launching its own internal investigation into the Negreira case.

"The club will have the transparency that the club needs to save its honor," Barcelona VP Rafael Yuste said. "There is too much noise and it doesn't suit anyone."

European clubs have been charged with referee bribery before. In 2006, Italian giants Juventus were demoted to Serie B, stripped of relevant titles, and given a nine-point deduction after being found guilty of intimidating and bribing Italian refereeing officials.

Barcelona may face similar sanctions if its internal and external investigations find them necessary.

Barcelona wants to shake off this scandal as quickly as possible. It faces Manchester United on Thursday in a must-win Europa League match at Old Trafford. The clubs played a thrilling 2-2 draw in the first leg, with Barcelona's goals coming from Marcus Alonso and Raphina.

Barcelona will exit European competition for the remainder of the 2022-23 season if it fails to win.