Real Madrid chief Perez accused of pressuring ex-referee in 2010
‘I only ask that you whistle at me the same way you do for Barcelona’: Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez is accused of pressuring a former LaLiga referee in 2010… days after their Catalan rivals were charged with corruption
- Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez has been accused of pressuring a referee
- Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez claims he asked for the same treatment as Barcelona
- Catalans have been accused of making £7.4m payment to refereeing official
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has been accused of pressuring a former LaLiga referee over his treatment of Barcelona in 2010 – with claims he ‘took him into a separate room’.
Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez – who officiated in the Spanish top flight between 1995 and 2012 – made the claim about Perez’s alleged behaviour in the 2010-11 season after a 6-1 win against Deportivo La Coruna.
Perez is said to have thought Gonzalez gave preferential treatment to Barcelona over Real Madrid that season, with the official claiming he had told him to give the same decisions for his side.
It comes just days after their rivals Barcelona were charged with corruption over claims the club paid £7.3million to the former vice-president of the Spanish referees committee.
‘You can see how they try to put pressure on certain people,’ Gonzalez told Spanish radio station Cadena SER, via Mundo Deportivo. ‘In a 6-1 game against Deportivo: the game ends, we leave the field and the assistants come out with me.
‘There is a person who puts me in a room and says: “I only ask you to whistle at me the same as FC Barcelona”
Real Madrid chief Florentino Perez has been accused of pressuring a referee in 2010
Eduardo Iturralde Gonzalez (R) claimed Perez took him ‘into a separate room’ and asked him to give the same treatment he gave to rivals Barcelona
‘I ask him if he’s joking, and tell him that our conversation is over. He wanted to put me in a room alone, but I said no. I told him not to do that.’
Iturralde said he reported the incident to the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA) but that no action was taken.
‘Half an hour later, the (CTA) knew about it. I brought it to their attention, because it seemed serious to me; but there was nothing else to it,’ he added.
‘It hasn’t happened to me in any other time, no president has put me in a separate room. I care about the facts. The one who put me in a separate room was Florentino Perez. I don’t have to hide.
‘There is a report from the CTA, because I brought it to their attention. So they can see what pressure is.’
Sportsmail has approached Real Madrid for comment.
The 2010-11 LaLiga season ended with Barcelona winning the title on 96 points, while Real Madrid finished as runners up on 92 points.
Barcelona have been charged with corruption over payments to a former referees’ official
Former Barcelona presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu (L) and Sandro Rosell (R) are facing charges of corruption
Spanish football has been rocked by the corruption scandal involving Barcelona after the country’s public prosecutor accused the club of maintaining a relationship with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira.
He is alleged to have carried out actions ‘in exchange for money’ that would ‘lead to Barcelona being favoured in the decision making of the referees’.
The prosecution says €7.3million (£6.46m) was paid by the club to DASNIL and NILSAT, two companies owned by Negreira.
Last month, LaLiga chief Javier Tebas called on Barcelona president Joan Laporta to resign if he could not explain the reason for the payments.
The club could face huge financial penalties, and Negreira, former Barcelona presidents Sandro Rosell and Josep Bartomeu, and former directors Oscar Grau and Albert Soler could face up to four years in jail.
Courts will now decide whether there is sufficient evidence to prove that Negreira used money paid to him by Barcelona to influence matches in the club’s favour.
Last month Javier Tebas urged Joan Laporta (pictured) to resign if he can’t explain payments
This week Madrid supremo Perez called an emergency meeting after Barcelona were charged due to the seriousness of the allegations.
A club statement read: ‘Given the seriousness of the accusations made by the Prosecutor’s Office of Barcelona against FC Barcelona and two of its presidents for allegations of corruption and their relations with who was the vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the president has urgently convened the Board of Directors tomorrow, Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 12:00, in order to decide the actions that Real Madrid deems appropriate in relation to this matter.’
The controversy first hit Barcelona last month when an investigation into a firm owned by Negreira revealed a £1.2m payment from the club, during a two-year period until 2018 for ‘technical advice on referees’.
Spanish newspaper El Mundo subsequently reported that payments from Barcelona to Negreira’s company date back to 2001, a period of time that includes Laporta’s first spell as club president. He will now have to give evidence to investigators.
Barcelona’s current president Laporta was asked about the scandal earlier this week and said: ‘Barca has never bought referees and Barca has never had any intention of buying referees. Absolutely never. The forcefulness of the facts contradicts those who try to change the story.’
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