A hackneyed assertion in the world of entertainment ensures that "the public is sovereign" and, therefore, has the right to express its opinion and state that it can censor the performances of the protagonists for whom it pays to see them act. If Andrés Iniesta's goal in the final of the World Cup in South Africa meant a continuous tribute to the Manchego in all the stadiums in Spain, from which he was applauded in the 2010-11 season as a thank you for sewing the first star on the jacket of the selection, the explosion of the Negreira case has fatal consequences for Barcelona at the level of image.
With the case in the Investigating Court number 1 of Barcelona after the lawsuit against former referee Estrada Fernandez and the complaint by the Prosecutor's Office, the honesty of the arbitration body and the merit of the titles won by the Barça club are in question, which has convulsed the foundations of Spanish football. A scandal that has also heated up the mood of the fans, which has generated several protest movements that are being put into practice in the camps that Barcelona.
If at the end of the 70s and the beginning of the 80s, the song "Thus, thus, this way Madrid wins" (after a controversial meeting of the white team in El Molinón) was extended every time any dubious move that affected the Merengue club arose, In recent weeks, the fans of other teams have begun a protest with mockery against Barcelona for the hiring of former referee José María Enríquez Negreira, between 2001 and 2018, he was vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees. A relationship that has unleashed suspicions about the impartiality of the arbitration group when directing the matches of Barça and its rival directors.
In the run-up to the Copa del Rey match between the Catalan team and Real Madrid last week, the surroundings of the Bernabéu were covered with 500-euro bills on which the face of Joan Laporta was stamped. This meeting became the perfect platform for the madridistas to protest against the institutional silence maintained by their club. Shouting "corruption in the Federation", thousands of white fans showed up at the gates of the stadium, with banners against the CTA and the RFEF and launched the tickets.
Tickets in San Mamés
This initiative will continue this Sunday in San Mamés and, possibly, from now on also in many of the camps that the Catalan club still has to play. The IC Herri Harmaila, one of the groups that occupied the animation stands in the North Tribune of the Bilbao stadium, has asked to launch printed tickets on the field for the occasion as a form of protest. This association has enabled a link from which they can download a simulation of bills in which the Barcelona shield, the dollar sign and the word mafia appear. “Download, print and call them by their name. Mafia. The Negreira case is just the tip of the iceberg. In the 30th minute of the Barça game, show them your anger ”, they point out.
An ironic and striking initiative that is not expected to negatively affect the players who hang out with the match despite the hostile environment they will find. “It is an issue that worries and occupies… it is a question for the president. He says that we are for football and that's what I'm doing. We don't talk about it. I don't think it hurts us. It's a match and we're concentrating on strategy… we haven't talked about anything else. Winning or losing does not depend on what happens in the stands but on what happens on the field", Xavi Hernández assured yesterday, aware that the three points must be added after Real Madrid's victory against Espanyol and that places the team white six points below in the table.
Ernesto Valverde also does not believe that Barcelona accuses the commotion that has been caused by the Negreira case: “I don't see the team being very affected on the field. If they withdraw third or fourth, well, the same, but they are first and they are outstanding. In the big teams there is always a lot of noise around to talk, but we have to focus on sports. The ticket release? People are free to express themselves as they see fit, but we focus on what is happening on the pitch”, he assures.
