Real Madrid manager Alvaro Arbeloa has implied that the officiating in Spain is not entirely neutral, referring back to the ongoing ‘Negreira case’ which sees Barcelona accused of sporting corruption. Previously he has referred to it as the biggest scandal in the history of football.
Arbeloa was asked about Barcelona having a vastly different record of red cards in La Liga and in Europe in recent years. The Catalan side were incensed by several decisions during their Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night.
“You all know my opinion about what has happened for so many years and continues to happen. I am not going to change my mind.”
Asked whether he thought the decisions during their Champions League clash, Arbeloa pushed the conversation to the decision not to send off Gerard Martin during their meeting on Saturday night. The Referees Committee (CTA) later acknowledged that sending Martin off was the correct decision.
“I don’t want to get into that kind of assessment. We’ve already seen what happened last weekend and what continues to happen for many weeks. My opinion is there and I stand by it; it’s what I keep seeing week after week.”
Arbeloa went on to insinuate that whatever forces are acting in Spain, were also acting in the Champions League, before returning to the topic of Negreira.
“It’s not about trusting or distrusting. It’s what we’re seeing. It happened on Tuesday with the tackle on Mbappe. It’s hard to understand why it wasn’t a red card. It’s even happening with VAR, which seemed like it was going to solve a lot of things.”
“Going back to Spanish football, we’re still waiting for an explanation, and we need to fix it. There are a lot of doubts surrounding all these kinds of decisions. One week VAR intervenes, the next it doesn’t. I try to focus on my job as a coach.”
Barcelona stand accused of sporting corruption after police investigated payments of €7-8m over a period of 17 years to CTA Vice-President Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira. The Blaugrana have vehemently denied any wrongdoing, calling it a smear campaign. So far the case is ongoing, with no verdict.
