Barcelona coach Xavi Hernández recently expressed his frustration with the decisions made by LaLiga referees during their recent match against Alavés. Xavi claimed that his team is 'paying for the Negreira case' after Vitor Roque received a red card in that game. Roque was sent off just 13 minutes after coming on as a substitute, receiving two bookings and leaving Barcelona shorthanded for the rest of the match.
Xavi believes that his team has been on the receiving end of several unfair decisions throughout the season, and he suggests that these decisions may be connected to the investigation into Barcelona's relationship with José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice-president of Spain's refereeing body. Barcelona admits to having paid companies connected to Negreira over €7 million across 18 years, but they maintain that these payments were for technical reports on refereeing and not for buying match officials or influencing their decisions.
