Gerard López has given Barcelona's Negreira case defence a new problem. Speaking at Barcelona Court of Instruction number 1 on Friday, the former reserve team coach said the referee reports were useful, directly challenging the version given by Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde.

Gerard López's court evidence

The clash is not subtle. López and Toni Alonso told the court the reports were used by the Barcelona reserve team between 2015 and 2018, when VAR did not yet exist, and López added that all coaches would want to have that type of reports.

That sits against the line taken by the two former first-team coaches, who said they neither knew of nor used the reports. López's account is not a match for theirs, and it leaves the club's argument looking more exposed than it did before Friday's hearing.

The reports themselves go back to the period when José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees, was at the centre of the payments case. The investigation began in March 2023 and concerns €8.4 million in payments over 17 years to Negreira and companies linked to him and his son.

The case now heading toward trial

The hearing on Friday came after the final witnesses were heard, so the instruction phase is nearing its end. Barcelona still must submit certain financial documents to formally close the investigation phase, and the case is then expected to move toward oral trial.

Real Madrid and the Public Prosecutor's Office asked for the instruction phase to be extended by another six months, but the request was dismissed and appealed by Real Madrid. So the procedural fight is not finished, even if the evidence phase is.

Barcelona's league form continues to run in the background. The club are top of La Liga with 33 points from 12 matches, have won 11 of those games and hold a +35 goal difference. None of that settles the court case, but it does mean the legal story is unfolding while the team is still setting the pace on the pitch.

The immediate next step is the paperwork that formally closes the instruction phase, after which the file can progress to oral trial.

Written by Daniel Hartley with AI-assisted research, cross-checked against 4 outlets. How we work →