FC Barcelona requested arbitration reports on “the rival RM” (which coincides with the initials of Real Madrid) the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees José María Enríquez Negreira and his sonaccording to a document that the police seized from the home of a former FCB director.
In a document that appears in the summary of the ‘Negreira Case’, to which he has had access EFE, Various jobs to be carried out by the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees, José María Enríquez Negreira, are detailed. and his son, among which the “monitoring of referee decisions to the rival team RM” stands out.
Within the summary, the document appears in a folder of evidence seized at the home of former FC Barcelona manager José Contrerasdeceased on Christmas Day 2022.
It is a single page, typed and with some notes by hand, which has the words “Work to be done” as a heading. and that its author closes with a last sentence between parentheses indicating who is the addressee of the document: “(Confidential for: Mr. Contreras)”.
The document describes almost a dozen services to be provided by whoever performs them and the first one that appears on the list is “videos of the Barça players regarding the referee’s decisions, so that the referee is not against Barça”.
The author of the text also requests videos of the virtues and defects of the rival teams of FC Barcelona and their players.
The document specifies that all arbitration reports must be provided to Barça “anonymously” and that “both the billing and the reports will be handed over to Mr. Contreras or to whomever is determined.”
After detailing that the videos must be delivered weekly, the document adds the reference to the RM: “Follow-up of arbitration decisions to the rival team RM”.
The other element of the document that stands out is a handwritten annotation at the height of the heading in which, without contextualizing, one can read: “50,000 +- 10,000. See the referee’s car or not depending on the theme of the airport or hotel car” (sic).
Negreira recommended that Barça “take great care” of Gil Manzano for his projection
The former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees José María Enríquez Negreira and his son recommended in May 2016 to FC Barcelona that they “take great care” of their relationship with the referee Jesús Gil Manzanosince due to his youth and projection he would direct “important games for many seasons”.
This is stated in one of the reports on members that the negreira They prepared for the Barça club in exchange for millions in amounts, according to the summary, to which EFE has had access, of the case of alleged sports corruption in which a Barcelona judge investigates FC Barcelona and its former presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell .
The judge has commissioned the Civil Guard to investigate “the reason or work” for which Barça made the payments to Negreira and his son, after the Prosecutor’s Office denounced the Barça club, Rosell and Bartomeu for reaching a “verbal agreement strictly confidential” so that the former vice-president of the CTA, in exchange for money, “carried out actions tending to favor FC Barcelona in the decision-making of the referees” and in the results of the competitions.
As stated in the summary, in one of its reports, prepared in May 2016 on the occasion of a derby between FC Barcelona and RCD Espanyol for which Gil Manzano had been appointed, The Negreiras highlighted that he was the referee “with the greatest projection in Spanish football”although at that time, despite the fact that it was well valued, its level was “simply good”.
“It is also interesting to take great care of the Club’s relationship with him because of his high level and youth. He will referee big games for many seasons. He is nice, smiling and simple ”the report noted.
In addition, The Negreiras recommended that, facing the derby, he be treated with “attention” and provided with “comfortable arbitration”. “He has a clean, aesthetic style that is far from authoritarian gestures. He will maintain a serious and distant attitude, making rigorous refereeing, “the report specified, in which they highlighted his” great personality “.
“If a conflict appears, he intervenes quickly to avoid it without losing his calm. In situations of protests or complaints, he does not like to be touched and especially avoids it”, underlined the technical report, which also highlighted that Gil Manzano did not usually argue with the players and that he avoided warnings in the first actions of the match, “it that can lead him to lose control of the match”.
Before the application of VAR, the report warned that Gil Manzano made “errors in penalties by default”, that he was “too rigorous” with positional offsides and that his assistants made “numerous mistakes” with those offside.
On Mateu Lahoz: “With Messi now he is better”
In another report, The Negreiras analyzed Mateu Lahoz’s type of refereeing, who they highlighted as “continually seeking personal treatment with the players”since “he needs to be believed”, which sometimes led him to “give too many explanations”.
“He continues to let play with intensity. He does not hesitate to admonish the simulations. He will not be fooled by simulations, which he admonishes, and he stops penalizing fouls if they are exaggerated. The struggles in the area are usually whistled in favor of the defense ”, the report warned.
The report on Lahoz also recommended that players follow all plays “no matter how clear the fouls may seem,” as they can turn into counterattacks if you don’t whistle them. “It is recommended to play noble but aggressive and make more fouls than usual”he pointed.
“He treats each player differently and each footballer should know how to treat him. It is easy for Jordi Alba not to allow any protest or to immediately admonish Piqué or Mascherano for tickets. It is also common for him to stop pointing out fouls on Neymar. With Messi now he is better ”, he underlined.
The summary also contains reports on the collegiate Fernando Teixeira Vitienes -on the occasion of a Barça-Elche game in August 2014- of whom he warned that he avoided admonishing tackles or pushing if the game allowed it, that he would not draw a penalty if it was not very clear and that instead he would not hesitate to admonish protests with gestures “obvious” towards him or his assistants.
Another of the referees analyzed by the reports was Ricardo de Burgos Bengoetxeawho had to direct Barça on a visit to the Deportivo de la Coruña field in April 2016, whom he described as being “very close and simple in dealing with people”, who dedicated himself to “easy whistling” and only pointed out “what was very clear to him”.
In this report, the Negreiras remarked that the CTA had recently given instructions to the referees to distinguish between the natural actions of the game, such as collisions, ball tackles and fortuitous hands, and voluntary actions, such as grabs, untimely tackles and elbows. , before which they would be “rigorous” until the end of the season.
About the collegiate Fernandez Borbalanthe Negreiras remarked that they were in a good physical and mental moment, which It allowed him to “relate calmly” with the players, who would try to avoid conflicts with the footballersand that he was normally “permissive” with small faults, “which harms Barça.”