Barcelona and Florentino Perez are set for a Madrid court conciliation hearing on 25 November after the club moved against his May remarks on the Negreira affair. Barcelona want Perez to retract what they say was said with knowledge of its falsehood, and they have warned they will file a criminal complaint if the demand is not addressed. Real Madrid are not in the dock as a club, but their president is now at the centre of the dispute.
Barcelona's legal move
Barcelona said the hearing is the mandatory step before a possible complaint for slander under Article 205 of the Penal Code. In its statement, the club said the aim is for Perez to retract the remarks made in May 2026, with the criminal route left open if that does not happen.
Joan Laporta said: "We defend Barcelona’s honour. His statements were false. His only interest is to insult and harm Barcelona. Real Madrid acted unacceptably."
The line Barcelona say crossed it
The flashpoint is Perez's claim that Madrid had won seven Champions Leagues and seven La Liga titles, which he argued could have been 14 because "7 Leagues have been stolen from me." That is the line Barcelona have chosen to challenge in court, rather than letting the wider Negreira row continue only through public statements.
Barcelona's response also sits inside a broader institutional fight with Real Madrid over UEFA and the public framing of the Negreira case. The clubs have been locked into that dispute for months, and the 25 November hearing is the first fixed legal moment in this latest round.
Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 5 outlets. How we work →
