Barcelona charged with corruption in court for payment made to former referee

Some very strong accusations have been made against The Blaugrana 

In response to the "Negreira" referee payment scandal, prosecutors have openly condemned Barcelona and said that they will bring legal proceedings against the team.

In an official opening of its inquiry into the Negreira Affair, Barcelona have criticised the club as a legal body in addition to ex-presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Maria Bartomeu.

The probe will encompass the two-year period from 2016 to 2018. However, it is suspected that from 2001 to 2018, the club gave José Maria Enriquez Negreira, a former deputy of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA), about €7 million (£6.2 million/$7.4 million). However the integrity of their sport has also been questioned, Barca maintains that they were interested primarily in referee season stats.

Considering the club's stance, the information that Negreira offered to "assist with VAR" raises the possibility that there is more for law enforcement to look into. Barcelona worries that they would be subject to sporting fines if proven guilty.

This is simply the beginning of a protracted legal process that may result in the club receiving a punishment or other penalty; the outcome won't be known for some time.

How it all happened?

In order to "supplement the information necessary by the coaching staff," Barcelona revealed that the club had hired Dasnil 95, which it referred to as "an outside technical consultant," to produce video reports about professional referees.

Additionally, it stated that professional clubs "habitually practise" contracting the reports.

After 18 of the 20 La Liga clubs released a statement expressing their "great concern" over the issue, and Laporta said that the club would open an internal review into the payments, the matter reached a critical point.

Coach Xavi of Barcelona, who played for them between 1998 and 2015 and won eight LaLiga championships, claimed he was unaware of the money and never felt that his team had an advantage.

"I always wanted to win, but fairly. If I thought we were cheating I'd have gone home,"  Xavi gave his remark after the scandal.