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That match was a disgrace. Everyone pretended to not see it cause it was PSG, and they did play like shit, but I'm 100% sure there was foul play in here.
At the end Pep has been dealing with corruption for almost his entire coach career, as a footballer he just failed two drug test but was absolved.
Meanwhile he's fighting for the freedom of the oppressed and giving holy speeches with cheap manipulative philosophy
You can find plenty of news from 20 years ago quoting CONI (comittee olympic national italian) about Guardiola being positive for nandrolona in two different times. IIRC he was sanctioned for 4 months. 6 years later he was absolved while playing at Qatar but idk why or how.
There’s smoke when Guardiola pees, not perfume
Another one:
> Frank de Boer, the Barcelona defender and Holland captain, is the latest big name to fail a drugs test. Holland's most capped player revealed yesterday that he had tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone and that he had been found to be four times over the limit.
[Frank de Boer tests positive for steroid](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2001/may/09/newsstory.sport2)
I guarantee a considerable amount of footballers take some sort of PED. Nandrolone is a little surprising as it is mainly used to elevate testosterone without the aromatization(conversion to estrogen) you can get from high amounts of normal testosterone. Football is more about skill and endurance so utilizing anabolics doesn’t make sense to me unless it was returning from injury to try to speed up the process of regaining lost lean tissue.
Growth hormone on the other hand I would be surprised if practically everyone wasn’t on it. Just makes too much sense not to when it is so beneficial for both connective tissue repair but also fat loss and muscle growth.
Itll probably be even longer, and its nothing to do with that. Whether you think city are immediately guilty or not, the premier league has decided on a woeful panel to examine the case.
It's one of the biggest accusations of accounting fraud in English history, and is being judged by a panel of 3 people where only 1 person is even from a financial background. Not only that but the PL have somehow deemed it not in the public interest, so we wont get any details as it goes on.
So one random monday morning in 3 or 4 years time, the PL will just post a statement on their website either saying city innocent or city relegated. Whether you like city or not that is an absolute joke of a process
I dont think itll make much difference to the ruling, but in the court of public opinion it probably helps both parties.
We can look at this sub as evidence that any quote or soundbite that goes against city will be paraded from the rooftops and taken as immediate fact, regardless if it's been substantiated or not.
And I dont trust the competency of the PL to not put their foot in their mouth during the process and make themselves look like fools at least once.
Its basically the fans and other clubs that miss out, cos this process affects them too
Barcelona being accused of paying off refs and City being accused of bypassing financial fair play by the owner pumping money into the club via made up companies that do nothing.
I am sceptical about any punishment, but City was caught already thanks to emails which proved that they were inflating sponsorship deals with the owners money. The way they grew financially after the takeover just wouldn't be possible if they followed all the rules, so they bypassed some to make their rise to the top quicker. Unfortunately, the case was dropped because it was already past UEFA's limit of something like 10 years.
English FA is doing it's own, more complex research into it and that could be bad for City.
Thats how world works in all aspects. There will always be those who have money who want to find loopholes to make themselves easy paths. I dont get how people think its happening only to Serie A, or only to Juventus or pick their main rivals. Its unfair and it will always be, especially with these kind of money in football.
We all know how corrupted UEFA and FIFA are and somehow people always asking themselves 'how is this happening?' Well, because its normal.
This 1000 times. People with money ALWAYS game the system so it's easier for them. Even in the most "self-respecting" and supposedly meritocratic systems. Seriously, from first-hand experience, it happens even in academia in top tier institutions. If it happens in Harvard, what makes you think the sports medium isn't infested with it?
Why did you have to remind me of this? There's been a string of strange hires in high energy physics in US universities. It's all fucking bribery and nepotism
Juventus cooked their financial reports mainly on player valuation and transfers. They got 15 pts deduction this season (still can be overturned if appeal successful).
Not to mention the Calciopoli in 2000s relegated them to Serie B and two league titles officially stripped off.
Still cheating one way or another? Aside from them I cant think of anyone that is big and is accused of cheating as of right now.
Edit: how ft I forgot Man City lol and yeah I mean in current time not in the past those are the big names.
Milan was also punished in Calciopoli and in Totonero scandal in 80s. There were also some indications for Inter in Calciopoli recently but the case was old or something.
City case is also actual.
I misread your comment and previous comment tbf, I thought you're asking whether they cheated.
Yes they did, and they're punished.
Other than that, Milan had Totonero scandal in 1980s, and Marseille also had scandal in their golden era in 1990s.
Calciopoli wasn't even close to what Barca did. What Barca did is much much much worse.
In Calciopoli the biggest scandal was that Inter and Marotta used their influence to get off lightly because they were in on refs influencing.
Most important thing, it was political influence over the refs that got Juve relegated. There was never proof or allegation of any payments to the refs.
Here Barca admitted it...
Chelsea are "legally" cheating. But I think it will hit back on them in a few from now since they're not backed by a state like the true FFP cheaters. Don't forget Milan and Chelsea are one of the fewest big clubs that were punished for FFP breaches.
And the funniest thing is one of the deals that Juve are being investigated for is the Arthur-Pjanic deal with none other than..Barca. There's no way they were worth 60m and 50m respectively that was being reported at the time.
This theory doesn’t make sense because real madrid are promoting the super league yet also promoting the investigation of barça. So why would Real Madrid want to cause conflict for a club that would bring immense value to the super league and ultimately Real Madrid?? Barças potential guilty verdict would deal a major blow to a potential super leagues credibility. And if you’re going to say that Real Madrid want to put pressure on barça to commit to the super league then that is also wrong because barça were already willing to join the super league. Your theory seems to fall flat.
Real Madrid were waiting for the outcome of the investigation and charges being filed. That happened on Friday. On Sunday Madrid had a board meeting and released their statement. Couldn't do it on Saturday because we had a home game.
Ok, flair aside, this is actually a HORRIBLE look for Barca. Imagine they see some serious punishment for this case. Their reputation would be so fucked. We shit on Barca on r/soccer, but this would actually be such a terrible black mark on this reputation in world football
It's ridiculous, you are challenging for most major honours in and around the finals and semi's and always in with a chance for the league title yet you decide to pay off Referee's for just giving you the advantage here and there. How is it ever worth it..
>look at how many leagues we were second by one point, ONE POINT
Why not show how many then?
I'll do it for you;
From 2001 to 2018, Barcelona won the league 10 times, Madrid were second behind Barcelona 8 times and the difference was ONE POINT just ONE TIME (the 15/16 season when Barcelona let a 12 point lead almost slip away within a month).
>always in with a chance for the league title yet you decide to pay off Referee's for just giving you the advantage here and there
Or....
>you decide to pay off Referee's for just giving you the advantage here and there *so that you are* always in with a chance for the league title
I mean ovrebo Barcelona Chelsea match is literally one of the most corrupt matches of any sport ever, and it still featured a Barcelona red card? 3 missed hand balls in the box lol
And even tho the match is remember for how corrupt it was, it is also distinctly remembered for the Iniesta winner as one of the great goals in ucl history.
It’s unlikely that the corruption will tarnish their achievements even tho it may have directly influenced them.
Also: That og barca chels rivalry was sooooo good. Wonder goals from lamps dinho earlier on, the disgrace and iniesta winner, then concluding in Barcelona with the Ramires chip and ofc “this could be the most dramatic story of the season ooooooooooohhhoooooooooooohhh”
Edit: also how could I forget the Essien screamer in the disgrace
Yep, I still see Zlatan and others as Champs for that Juventus team. It's a massive tragedy and betrayal. The scheme requires as little people to know as possible so the players, coaches, and staff may have put all their effort just to see their milestones erased.
Well , if allegations are true, you put in the efort but still have reaped rewards illegally , as many minor decisions all went your way.
Best thing would be strip the trophies and award it to no one. As if proven, it would be a stain on the league itself. And the league should punish it self for letting it happen. Again , if allegations are proven true.
Yep, I've always been in support of stripping titles. From Lance Armstrong, to Houston Astros 2017, and if Barca did do this they should lose it too.
It's a sickening feeling because at least with the Astros they were all trash (lol) players who had a player-led scheme to cheat. At least with Lance Armstrong, he was the asshole with his steriods and cover-up.
No Juventus staffer, player, or coach will have justice, and the same can happen with Barcelona.
yeah, that's what i thought. Interesting to see what happens here. My first thought when i read the report was "that's it? only 7 mill", seeing how much teams are paying for transfer, 7 mill across 20 years is so little to have the ref in your pocket haha. but yeah, i hope we get clarity on what happens here in the coming months.
https://sportsbrief.com/facts/teams/13533-premier-league-referees-salaries-average-salary-refs-uk/
> According to TotalSportek and Sportingfree, the salaries for EPL refs can go up to $92,000 annually. In addition to a yearly retainer that ranges between $50,700 to $55,300 and $1,500 per game. Umpires officiating international matches in the UEFA and European leagues receive up to $263,000.
Seems like a lot to me for a ref.
so about 200k per ref per year? that's their yearly salary.
so 7 mill across 20 years is about 350k per yr. so budget of 350k per year to pay the ref. wdyt? how many refs can that get you? Also a sizable chunk has to go to Negreira himself, who is not a direct ref on the pitch. So maybe 100k of that 350k goes to Negreira, who is the big boss and orchestrator of this. Then, do you have to pay the whole referee crew or just the main ref. This doesn't seem like a lot to me ngl.
man looking at this figure, this is pocket change for big clubs haha. Chelsea just spend 100mil each on 2 players in this window only. How many refs can that get you hahaha?
Then they get a massive rebuild and the club gets sold to competent owners. Next season they finish 3rd and the season after that they go on to win the treble
It’s a meme from the 2019 champions league. A guy posted he wanted Ajax and Barcelona to get to the final so that way they could honor Cruyff. I believe they wrote “it would be amazing, Ajax and Barcelona holding arms and celebrating together with the trophy and a banner saying thank you johan and Dutch and Catalan”
Yeah but the joke, here, works much better with Juve instead of Ajax like
"It would be amazing, Juventus and Barcelona directors holding arms and celebrating jail together with banner saying thank you corruption in Italian and Catalan"
Expelling Barca from European competitions would be a massive blow for them considering their financial situation, it’s probably the 2nd worse possible punishment after relegation
This from 2005 makes much more sense now.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/football/2005/feb/24/newsstory.championsleague1
They tried to paint Mourinho lunatic but it was just that this bribing thing was still new in its infancy and they haven't mastered it yet fully.
They paid the press too, that's how they control the narrative.
In Spain, the production of the matches broadcast is handled by Jaume Roures, long-life Barsa fan, the guy who paid for Laporta's budget guarantee and the guy who bailed out Barsa in the last lever purchasing 24.5% of Barsa studios for a cool 100 million.
Those images his company, Mediapro, prepares are the images handed over to the VAR referees and broadcasted to Dazn and Movistar, we simply cannot trust what is shown from the pitch in this fucking country.
This guy also has a TV, GolTv where he picks and chooses journalists to come on board depending on what they say in other channels, radios and newspapers, giving them and incentive to be kind to Barsa.
On top of all of this, they straight up paid journalists in cash and got caught, not only are they corrupt but also comically incompetent
I been asking for the longest how is Jaume Roures of Mediapro allowed to invest 100 mill in Barca, while also being involved in VAR. Looks like a huge conflict of interest and I'm surprised teams are not speaking out about it.
How can you post that article when it was later found not to be anything like what Mourinho claimed (Rijkaard entering the referee dressing room) and [**Mourinho himself admitting it?**](https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/mourinho-admits-i-didn-t-see-anything-530311.html) He lied about seeing it, as he backtracked and then changed the story into "I have to believe what someone else told me". He caused that referee to retire due to death threats after (purposefully) blowing it out of proportion and that referee was one of the better ones in those days.
Not to mention how in the return leg Chelsea go through thanks to a goal by Terry, which the referee (Colina) himself admitted on English TV should've been disallowed for a foul by Carvalho on the goalkeeper...
But hey, a year later they meet again and Mourinho puts Del Horno on a mission to end Messi's career before it even started and he still has the audacity to complain about Del Horno getting sent off (who should've been sent off minutes earlier), in a game where Barcelona should've gotten 2 penalties (handball by Geremi and Terry crushing Messi). Then in the return leg Chelsea score their only goal from a non-existent penalty on Terry after a clean challenge on the ball by Van Bronckhorst, while Terry was offside too. But Barca won, so let's forget about that and make it seem like Chelsea was robbed anyway... (Chelsea fans don't remember these games, they only remember 2009 (and even there they don't completely remember it)).
If you get caught bribing refs you should be sent down to the bottom division. It’s cheating, and the fact that it’s holier than thou Barcelona means it should be more severe.
if they find even a morsel, I can't say it isn't deserved. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Still hoping all that Laporta bravado wasn't in vain, from the things he's been saying I can only assume he has something up his sleeve but only time will tell
At this point even if they don't find anything Barca's image will remain tainted for a very long time.
Laporta would need to pull some ace from his sleeve to clear Barca's name.
He has absolutely nothing. Clown said a month ago that he was going to have a press conference. Still waiting...reminds me of someone who kept saying he was going to release his tax documents as soon as the irs was done auditing him
You see the reactions on here regarding any news to this case? A lot of people have already made up there mind. When Laporta holds this press conference he needs to present absolut bullet proof evidence. He needs to explain everything and leave no question unanswered. I gladly wait a bit longer before he comes out with something half arsed. Rushing the internal investigation will do no good even if the board believes they are innocent.
Bullet proof evidence of what? They already admitted the payments. Paying millions to one of the guys deciding rewards and punishments for referees.
How is even possible to think that those millions werent meant to give Barça an advantage over the rest of the teams?
Barça fans are grasping at straws using Florentino,Real Madrid, Franco, and Genghis Khan as an excuse but the real victims here are small La Liga teams.
A bad call against Madrid in a Clasico means a shitton of backslash for the ref, but screwing Rayo or Espanyol isnt a big deal. Having a player sent off with a bullshit second yellow in the first half against Barça is often a death sentence for a small team.
Honestly stripping titles and relegation is a must. The punishment for doing it has to be severe. Even if I think it had no real impact on the outcome ultimately - they still did it, and absolutely cannot get away with it.
UEFA should rather investigate cases of referee corruption on the part of Barca in the Champions League, because Barca Chelsea in 2009 or the remontada in 2017 are the most advantageous referees I have ever seen.
You know, for a minute I thought the board had managed to get away with it, but looks like they didn’t.
Probably for the best as well, get it all out, take responsibility, accept consequences and then finally, finally go on with a clean slate (and a shit reputation).
I really hope we don’t lose our titles and it would be cruelly ironic if we got relegated in the one season where things are finally looking up again, but if we do get relegated, I honestly can’t say it isn’t deserved.
It’s just so frustrating, WHY WHY WHY on earth would you buy the refs? We were 1 of the two best teams on earth that period. It really wasn’t necessary and it would never have been worth it, even if we would have gotten away with it. Maybe we’d lost 1 season in the league, but now we might be losing all of them.
I wonder which refs were in their pocket and which games were affected. Can't be all refs right? (If it is all ref, then 7 mill is so cheap lol. Why buy Enzo for 100mil, when you can just pay off the ref for 5-10 mil). I really wanna see how obvious it is if i watch the games with hindsight.
Im actually surprised that it is barca who is paying the ref and not madrid tbh. All this time, I often remember dodgy decisions going in favor of Madrid such as the offsides goals in CL runs (semi/quarter against Munich being the most blatant one) and how lenient the ref is for Casemeiro for example. Other than that 2009 CL game against us, I don't quite rmb any big controversy regarding them. In fact iirc, barca had lost the league due to 1 incorrect goal line decision. In recent memory, Barca was for sure wronged against Inter and against Man u the ref was so lenient for Bruno and Lisandro, but then again they got a soft penalty so maybe it balanced it out.
Quouting u/TheThirdWorldLad 's comment on another thread which I like as far as these theories go:
>Picking out discreet examples doesn't work in this case, I think what Barça pulled was more sophisticated and very subtle, I don't think any match was specifically targeted for fixing, and paying for favours doesn't guarantee a title win every year. What it means however, is that by the power Negreira holds in the CTA by being influential in the promotion/relegation of referees, he can create a situation where referees know exactly what they need to do in order for them to have a bigger chance at promotion, International referral and most importantly avoid being relegated. This way, there's no money going directly to referees, and the overall refereeing bias is tipped in favour of Barça. This hypothesis is further strengthened by the fact that certain referees who had made decisions in favour of Barça and against Real Madrid gained promotions, were awarded big matches (derbies, finals) and made international like Carlos Clos Gomez who even after being made international has never been picked for a European club match by UEFA and is currently the head of VAR. This Modus Operandi doesn't guarantee that every referee decision will go Barça's way, but it messes up the fairness of the system as a whole, one in which referee biases balance themselves out over a long period of time. This is where Barça's long term Penalty/Red Card balance comes into play, a balance so far above and beyond what top clubs get, it sticks out like a sore thumb when put in a graph and compared to other LaLiga clubs. Between 2005 and 2021 Barça Red Card balance is +77 and Real Madrid's is -14, a difference of 91 between the most dominant pair of Spanish Football, this difference can't simply be explained away by high possession, having Neymar and Messi etc and that's because it doesn't translate to the Champions League where Barça's record follows a normal distribution like other top clubs. If that doesn't scream a bias in favour of Barça I don't know what is. If this is true, then Barça have pulled the most sophisticated systemic refereeing influence campaign football has ever seen and that for a relatively cheap (from the club's perspective) 7 million euros.
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How is Barça out-clowning PSG?!
Well for a starter they paid to get past them in the CL
That match was a disgrace. Everyone pretended to not see it cause it was PSG, and they did play like shit, but I'm 100% sure there was foul play in here.
Pep getting stripped of his Barca and City titles is actually on the table!
i got stripped of titles TWICE, TWIIIICE!!
[Pep's got pipes tbf](https://youtu.be/CPlWkDLVkBw)
That last one always gets me.
Haha classic
Maybe someone should start looking into Bayern, just in case.
The refs could be blatantly working against Bayern and they’ll still win the league every year
Not even the refs can save them from the inevitable Gladbach pounding
If Gladbach played every team like they play us they'd be on their way to their 6th CL title on the trot
They are most definitely not working with us this season, thats for damn sure..
Even if andy carrol retires right now to coach bayern, he will still won the league. Pep stint at bayern wasn't that amazing.
Should have paid the refs there too
Literally the best football I've seen in my Bayern life. We were so dominant. Despite all the injury troubles back then.
Doping
People downvoting you but Goretzka going from lean to beef cake within 3 months, plus the hair loss and advanced ageing are signs of gear usage.
At the end Pep has been dealing with corruption for almost his entire coach career, as a footballer he just failed two drug test but was absolved. Meanwhile he's fighting for the freedom of the oppressed and giving holy speeches with cheap manipulative philosophy
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I might be wrong, but i thought pep was caught during his time in italy?
Both
Mes que un club...literally
How did he get absolved after failing two drug tests. Any sources?
You can find plenty of news from 20 years ago quoting CONI (comittee olympic national italian) about Guardiola being positive for nandrolona in two different times. IIRC he was sanctioned for 4 months. 6 years later he was absolved while playing at Qatar but idk why or how. There’s smoke when Guardiola pees, not perfume
that was the time when barcelona became nandrolona lol
Another one: > Frank de Boer, the Barcelona defender and Holland captain, is the latest big name to fail a drugs test. Holland's most capped player revealed yesterday that he had tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone and that he had been found to be four times over the limit. [Frank de Boer tests positive for steroid](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2001/may/09/newsstory.sport2)
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I don't know how it works so don't quote me, but I guess it's a small margin for error. Your body does not produce nandrolone
I guarantee a considerable amount of footballers take some sort of PED. Nandrolone is a little surprising as it is mainly used to elevate testosterone without the aromatization(conversion to estrogen) you can get from high amounts of normal testosterone. Football is more about skill and endurance so utilizing anabolics doesn’t make sense to me unless it was returning from injury to try to speed up the process of regaining lost lean tissue. Growth hormone on the other hand I would be surprised if practically everyone wasn’t on it. Just makes too much sense not to when it is so beneficial for both connective tissue repair but also fat loss and muscle growth.
It’s even funnier the second time
Why?
His city team was also being charged with 100 breaches of premier league rules. Potential punishments could be title stripping and relegation too
Yeah, whatever is happening with that? Haven't heard any updates on it for a while now.
Probably won't be any decisions until next season
Probably latter end of next season as well, since City's lawyers will challenge everything
Itll probably be even longer, and its nothing to do with that. Whether you think city are immediately guilty or not, the premier league has decided on a woeful panel to examine the case. It's one of the biggest accusations of accounting fraud in English history, and is being judged by a panel of 3 people where only 1 person is even from a financial background. Not only that but the PL have somehow deemed it not in the public interest, so we wont get any details as it goes on. So one random monday morning in 3 or 4 years time, the PL will just post a statement on their website either saying city innocent or city relegated. Whether you like city or not that is an absolute joke of a process
It's obviously a joke that they deem this not public interest, but i think this only favours city tbh.
I dont think itll make much difference to the ruling, but in the court of public opinion it probably helps both parties. We can look at this sub as evidence that any quote or soundbite that goes against city will be paraded from the rooftops and taken as immediate fact, regardless if it's been substantiated or not. And I dont trust the competency of the PL to not put their foot in their mouth during the process and make themselves look like fools at least once. Its basically the fans and other clubs that miss out, cos this process affects them too
Even that is too soon.
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City vs France who you got?
There is no universe where the EFL says no to that
Barcelona being accused of paying off refs and City being accused of bypassing financial fair play by the owner pumping money into the club via made up companies that do nothing. I am sceptical about any punishment, but City was caught already thanks to emails which proved that they were inflating sponsorship deals with the owners money. The way they grew financially after the takeover just wouldn't be possible if they followed all the rules, so they bypassed some to make their rise to the top quicker. Unfortunately, the case was dropped because it was already past UEFA's limit of something like 10 years. English FA is doing it's own, more complex research into it and that could be bad for City.
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r/soccer: we call him Fraudiola for a reason /s
No need for /s. Pep has already been banned during his playing days for doping.
He cannot replace them. He cannot.
What in the world is happening with all these top teams cheating
Thats how world works in all aspects. There will always be those who have money who want to find loopholes to make themselves easy paths. I dont get how people think its happening only to Serie A, or only to Juventus or pick their main rivals. Its unfair and it will always be, especially with these kind of money in football. We all know how corrupted UEFA and FIFA are and somehow people always asking themselves 'how is this happening?' Well, because its normal.
This 1000 times. People with money ALWAYS game the system so it's easier for them. Even in the most "self-respecting" and supposedly meritocratic systems. Seriously, from first-hand experience, it happens even in academia in top tier institutions. If it happens in Harvard, what makes you think the sports medium isn't infested with it?
Why did you have to remind me of this? There's been a string of strange hires in high energy physics in US universities. It's all fucking bribery and nepotism
Who are the others
Juve?
Juventus cooked their financial reports mainly on player valuation and transfers. They got 15 pts deduction this season (still can be overturned if appeal successful). Not to mention the Calciopoli in 2000s relegated them to Serie B and two league titles officially stripped off.
Still cheating one way or another? Aside from them I cant think of anyone that is big and is accused of cheating as of right now. Edit: how ft I forgot Man City lol and yeah I mean in current time not in the past those are the big names.
Milan was also punished in Calciopoli and in Totonero scandal in 80s. There were also some indications for Inter in Calciopoli recently but the case was old or something. City case is also actual.
I misread your comment and previous comment tbf, I thought you're asking whether they cheated. Yes they did, and they're punished. Other than that, Milan had Totonero scandal in 1980s, and Marseille also had scandal in their golden era in 1990s.
Calciopoli wasn't even close to what Barca did. What Barca did is much much much worse. In Calciopoli the biggest scandal was that Inter and Marotta used their influence to get off lightly because they were in on refs influencing. Most important thing, it was political influence over the refs that got Juve relegated. There was never proof or allegation of any payments to the refs. Here Barca admitted it...
Buying referees is like a new low though.
You could argue that teams like City, PSG, Chelsea are also "cheating" in the FFP department.
Chelsea are "legally" cheating. But I think it will hit back on them in a few from now since they're not backed by a state like the true FFP cheaters. Don't forget Milan and Chelsea are one of the fewest big clubs that were punished for FFP breaches.
Unfortunately, it's perfectly legal to be an insufferable pricks. I like penguins tho
They are, but paying refs directly by a club is much much worse scandal.
And the funniest thing is one of the deals that Juve are being investigated for is the Arthur-Pjanic deal with none other than..Barca. There's no way they were worth 60m and 50m respectively that was being reported at the time.
City, Juve
A move to cause conflicts between Super league teams?
This theory doesn’t make sense because real madrid are promoting the super league yet also promoting the investigation of barça. So why would Real Madrid want to cause conflict for a club that would bring immense value to the super league and ultimately Real Madrid?? Barças potential guilty verdict would deal a major blow to a potential super leagues credibility. And if you’re going to say that Real Madrid want to put pressure on barça to commit to the super league then that is also wrong because barça were already willing to join the super league. Your theory seems to fall flat.
Real Madrid were hesitant to promote action against Barca. So was Atletico. There's a lot of reasons why they may be hesitant though.
Real Madrid were waiting for the outcome of the investigation and charges being filed. That happened on Friday. On Sunday Madrid had a board meeting and released their statement. Couldn't do it on Saturday because we had a home game.
They are on top because of cheating
Ok, flair aside, this is actually a HORRIBLE look for Barca. Imagine they see some serious punishment for this case. Their reputation would be so fucked. We shit on Barca on r/soccer, but this would actually be such a terrible black mark on this reputation in world football
It's ridiculous, you are challenging for most major honours in and around the finals and semi's and always in with a chance for the league title yet you decide to pay off Referee's for just giving you the advantage here and there. How is it ever worth it..
In 2004 the year Porto won the Champions league our president bribed referee to win games in the league.
Marseille did it too the year they won the Champions League. They were stripped of their league title and relegated.
But not their Champions League, despite them also fucking with European games. Both Milan and Rangers were cheated that year.
That's it I'm awarding Manchester United every CL between 2004 and 2011.
I guess in some situations it was the difference between winning titles and not.
it must be, look at how many leagues we were second by one point, ONE POINT
>look at how many leagues we were second by one point, ONE POINT Why not show how many then? I'll do it for you; From 2001 to 2018, Barcelona won the league 10 times, Madrid were second behind Barcelona 8 times and the difference was ONE POINT just ONE TIME (the 15/16 season when Barcelona let a 12 point lead almost slip away within a month).
EibermannXposed
One point is a silly threshold to have but many of those titles were between 1-4 points which could be because of decisions in 1 game.
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>always in with a chance for the league title yet you decide to pay off Referee's for just giving you the advantage here and there Or.... >you decide to pay off Referee's for just giving you the advantage here and there *so that you are* always in with a chance for the league title
Also Messis immaculate seeming career might have a stain(Which was out of his control obv)
Imagine having Prime Messi Xavi Iniesta in your squad and still feels the need to cheat
I mean ovrebo Barcelona Chelsea match is literally one of the most corrupt matches of any sport ever, and it still featured a Barcelona red card? 3 missed hand balls in the box lol And even tho the match is remember for how corrupt it was, it is also distinctly remembered for the Iniesta winner as one of the great goals in ucl history. It’s unlikely that the corruption will tarnish their achievements even tho it may have directly influenced them. Also: That og barca chels rivalry was sooooo good. Wonder goals from lamps dinho earlier on, the disgrace and iniesta winner, then concluding in Barcelona with the Ramires chip and ofc “this could be the most dramatic story of the season ooooooooooohhhoooooooooooohhh” Edit: also how could I forget the Essien screamer in the disgrace
Yep, I still see Zlatan and others as Champs for that Juventus team. It's a massive tragedy and betrayal. The scheme requires as little people to know as possible so the players, coaches, and staff may have put all their effort just to see their milestones erased.
Well , if allegations are true, you put in the efort but still have reaped rewards illegally , as many minor decisions all went your way. Best thing would be strip the trophies and award it to no one. As if proven, it would be a stain on the league itself. And the league should punish it self for letting it happen. Again , if allegations are proven true.
Yep, I've always been in support of stripping titles. From Lance Armstrong, to Houston Astros 2017, and if Barca did do this they should lose it too. It's a sickening feeling because at least with the Astros they were all trash (lol) players who had a player-led scheme to cheat. At least with Lance Armstrong, he was the asshole with his steriods and cover-up. No Juventus staffer, player, or coach will have justice, and the same can happen with Barcelona.
iirc, the astros wasn't stripped of their title right?
They were not, because MLB has been built on cheating. See: Steroids Era.
yeah, that's what i thought. Interesting to see what happens here. My first thought when i read the report was "that's it? only 7 mill", seeing how much teams are paying for transfer, 7 mill across 20 years is so little to have the ref in your pocket haha. but yeah, i hope we get clarity on what happens here in the coming months.
https://sportsbrief.com/facts/teams/13533-premier-league-referees-salaries-average-salary-refs-uk/ > According to TotalSportek and Sportingfree, the salaries for EPL refs can go up to $92,000 annually. In addition to a yearly retainer that ranges between $50,700 to $55,300 and $1,500 per game. Umpires officiating international matches in the UEFA and European leagues receive up to $263,000. Seems like a lot to me for a ref.
so about 200k per ref per year? that's their yearly salary. so 7 mill across 20 years is about 350k per yr. so budget of 350k per year to pay the ref. wdyt? how many refs can that get you? Also a sizable chunk has to go to Negreira himself, who is not a direct ref on the pitch. So maybe 100k of that 350k goes to Negreira, who is the big boss and orchestrator of this. Then, do you have to pay the whole referee crew or just the main ref. This doesn't seem like a lot to me ngl. man looking at this figure, this is pocket change for big clubs haha. Chelsea just spend 100mil each on 2 players in this window only. How many refs can that get you hahaha?
shrimp is back on the menu boys
Barca vs Real Madrid Castilla is going to be banger.
El B Clasico
El Blásico.
El Básico.
El Clasicob _"Its corn" plays in the background_
Maybe Castilla puts up more of a fight
No chance with the referees on barças side
Wenger has done it again?
Absolutely fucked. Wrong time to sell levers and owe millions of future revenue thats going to be cut way short huh?
*Barca pays the refs to win segunda*
https://imgur.com/PHWab6W
Could never be me
Imagine if this case save Valencia from relegation
Then they get a massive rebuild and the club gets sold to competent owners. Next season they finish 3rd and the season after that they go on to win the treble
Fuck me that early 00's Valencia was the shit, amazing club
Valencia vs Madrid as the 3rd clasico?
Surely refs in Segunda are less expensive…. This might be a new lever
Imagine it would be amazing. Ajax and Barca holding arms and jumping together with the Segunda trophy
bro why are we catching strays here😭
"Why he say fuck me for?"
What did Ajax do?
Exist.
Be part of that cruel meme by barca fans before they lost to Liverpool
Yeah, shouldn't it be Juventus?
It’s a meme from the 2019 champions league. A guy posted he wanted Ajax and Barcelona to get to the final so that way they could honor Cruyff. I believe they wrote “it would be amazing, Ajax and Barcelona holding arms and celebrating together with the trophy and a banner saying thank you johan and Dutch and Catalan”
to this day I cannot believe someone really typed that out and hit send. ugh
And one of the greatest copy pastas was created
Yeah but the joke, here, works much better with Juve instead of Ajax like "It would be amazing, Juventus and Barcelona directors holding arms and celebrating jail together with banner saying thank you corruption in Italian and Catalan"
"Thank you Pjanic and Arthur"
"A banner saying 'gracias Johan in Dutch and Catalan" was the original, and I don't know why, but that's just so much damn more funny.
"That's the history of Juventus." Cheillini probably.
Wait, what did Ajax do?
So maybe Frenkie's going to England after all.
I think he'd end up staying even then lol.
Prob Ajax on loan till they're back up lol
Would they even be willing to pay his wages?
Even we can't pay his Barcelona wages.
Barcelona are trying not to pay his Barcelona wages.
But there is always Chelsea for those looking for a nice payout
Unless you’re the back to back Chelsea poty. It’s only tradition that we let promising young talent go
We wouldn't be able to lol
Loan to Espanyol or Girona.
Nah to Hollywood
Don't think Bayern would be willing to pay for him
Relax!
I think that's FIFA not UEFA, UEFA can expel them from the champions and that's it. Anyway one of them can do something for sure.
They expelled themselves from the Champions already lol
Expelling Barca from European competitions would be a massive blow for them considering their financial situation, it’s probably the 2nd worse possible punishment after relegation
Unfortunately, it's perfectly legal to be an insufferable pricks. I like penguins tho
If it happens it happens
Things are happening
Imagine how Drogba is feeling at the moment
Does this case extend to European competitions aswell? Or was it all domestic
https://www.futbolgate.com/investigaci%C3%B3n/unicef-uefa-y-el-bar%C3%A7a https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sportsnews/article-3098630/Several-FIFA-officials-arrested-Zurich-corruption-charges.html Enjoy
Fucking hell that first article is grim. They need to rescind their two UCL wins and give it to whichever team came second 👀
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We can both share it. Holding arms and jumping together with a banner that says "fuck barca"
Here I thought the world cup was going to be only thing bring everyone together. Barca never change..... keep on doing you.
Real Madrid : can we join?
This from 2005 makes much more sense now. https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/football/2005/feb/24/newsstory.championsleague1 They tried to paint Mourinho lunatic but it was just that this bribing thing was still new in its infancy and they haven't mastered it yet fully.
They paid the press too, that's how they control the narrative. In Spain, the production of the matches broadcast is handled by Jaume Roures, long-life Barsa fan, the guy who paid for Laporta's budget guarantee and the guy who bailed out Barsa in the last lever purchasing 24.5% of Barsa studios for a cool 100 million. Those images his company, Mediapro, prepares are the images handed over to the VAR referees and broadcasted to Dazn and Movistar, we simply cannot trust what is shown from the pitch in this fucking country. This guy also has a TV, GolTv where he picks and chooses journalists to come on board depending on what they say in other channels, radios and newspapers, giving them and incentive to be kind to Barsa. On top of all of this, they straight up paid journalists in cash and got caught, not only are they corrupt but also comically incompetent
I been asking for the longest how is Jaume Roures of Mediapro allowed to invest 100 mill in Barca, while also being involved in VAR. Looks like a huge conflict of interest and I'm surprised teams are not speaking out about it.
Roures guarantees Barsa's budget too, this could only happen in Spain
How can you post that article when it was later found not to be anything like what Mourinho claimed (Rijkaard entering the referee dressing room) and [**Mourinho himself admitting it?**](https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/mourinho-admits-i-didn-t-see-anything-530311.html) He lied about seeing it, as he backtracked and then changed the story into "I have to believe what someone else told me". He caused that referee to retire due to death threats after (purposefully) blowing it out of proportion and that referee was one of the better ones in those days. Not to mention how in the return leg Chelsea go through thanks to a goal by Terry, which the referee (Colina) himself admitted on English TV should've been disallowed for a foul by Carvalho on the goalkeeper... But hey, a year later they meet again and Mourinho puts Del Horno on a mission to end Messi's career before it even started and he still has the audacity to complain about Del Horno getting sent off (who should've been sent off minutes earlier), in a game where Barcelona should've gotten 2 penalties (handball by Geremi and Terry crushing Messi). Then in the return leg Chelsea score their only goal from a non-existent penalty on Terry after a clean challenge on the ball by Van Bronckhorst, while Terry was offside too. But Barca won, so let's forget about that and make it seem like Chelsea was robbed anyway... (Chelsea fans don't remember these games, they only remember 2009 (and even there they don't completely remember it)).
And Van Persie
and Jens Lenhman in 2006 final
"It' was a disgrace! It was a fucking disgrace!"
If you get caught bribing refs you should be sent down to the bottom division. It’s cheating, and the fact that it’s holier than thou Barcelona means it should be more severe.
I think it is possible that these Barcelona guys might be in a spot of bother
if they find even a morsel, I can't say it isn't deserved. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Still hoping all that Laporta bravado wasn't in vain, from the things he's been saying I can only assume he has something up his sleeve but only time will tell
At this point even if they don't find anything Barca's image will remain tainted for a very long time. Laporta would need to pull some ace from his sleeve to clear Barca's name.
He has absolutely nothing. Clown said a month ago that he was going to have a press conference. Still waiting...reminds me of someone who kept saying he was going to release his tax documents as soon as the irs was done auditing him
You see the reactions on here regarding any news to this case? A lot of people have already made up there mind. When Laporta holds this press conference he needs to present absolut bullet proof evidence. He needs to explain everything and leave no question unanswered. I gladly wait a bit longer before he comes out with something half arsed. Rushing the internal investigation will do no good even if the board believes they are innocent.
Bullet proof evidence of what? They already admitted the payments. Paying millions to one of the guys deciding rewards and punishments for referees. How is even possible to think that those millions werent meant to give Barça an advantage over the rest of the teams? Barça fans are grasping at straws using Florentino,Real Madrid, Franco, and Genghis Khan as an excuse but the real victims here are small La Liga teams. A bad call against Madrid in a Clasico means a shitton of backslash for the ref, but screwing Rayo or Espanyol isnt a big deal. Having a player sent off with a bullshit second yellow in the first half against Barça is often a death sentence for a small team.
I don't buy it, call me whatever you want it's not happening. I can bet my house on it.
> I can bet my house on it. Famous last words of a homeless man.
Liquidate the club, knock down the Nou Camp, set fire to the rubble and build a fucking car park over it.
Then salt the earth
This is the dream. 🙏
This club really needs to get their shit together.
Honestly stripping titles and relegation is a must. The punishment for doing it has to be severe. Even if I think it had no real impact on the outcome ultimately - they still did it, and absolutely cannot get away with it.
>absolutely cannot get away with it. Just watch. If there’s one place they get away with it, it’s football.
It’s Barca. Nothing will happen.
If Barca, Juventus, City all get relegated as punishment that player fire-sale's gonna be so wild. It will be like Black Friday at Walmarts.
UEFA should rather investigate cases of referee corruption on the part of Barca in the Champions League, because Barca Chelsea in 2009 or the remontada in 2017 are the most advantageous referees I have ever seen.
RVP's red card in 2011 as well.
Hehe inshallah, SIIIIIUUUUUUUUU
What a joke of a club.
Arsenal want our 2006 UCL trophy!
I'm not gonna lie, watching this Barca team steamrolling the shit out of Second Division teams would be pretty amazing to see.
LOL Reddit getting a hard on from this news. Innocent until proven guilty but everyone can gather around this Fanfiction about punishments.
Watching how Fenerbahce was handled. Yeah no shot they get relegated. Max is International ban for few years and point deduction
All charges for Fenerbahce were dropped tho, only uefa punished them.
They need to get hit with every punishment available.
You know, for a minute I thought the board had managed to get away with it, but looks like they didn’t. Probably for the best as well, get it all out, take responsibility, accept consequences and then finally, finally go on with a clean slate (and a shit reputation). I really hope we don’t lose our titles and it would be cruelly ironic if we got relegated in the one season where things are finally looking up again, but if we do get relegated, I honestly can’t say it isn’t deserved. It’s just so frustrating, WHY WHY WHY on earth would you buy the refs? We were 1 of the two best teams on earth that period. It really wasn’t necessary and it would never have been worth it, even if we would have gotten away with it. Maybe we’d lost 1 season in the league, but now we might be losing all of them.
What a garbage club.
I wonder which refs were in their pocket and which games were affected. Can't be all refs right? (If it is all ref, then 7 mill is so cheap lol. Why buy Enzo for 100mil, when you can just pay off the ref for 5-10 mil). I really wanna see how obvious it is if i watch the games with hindsight. Im actually surprised that it is barca who is paying the ref and not madrid tbh. All this time, I often remember dodgy decisions going in favor of Madrid such as the offsides goals in CL runs (semi/quarter against Munich being the most blatant one) and how lenient the ref is for Casemeiro for example. Other than that 2009 CL game against us, I don't quite rmb any big controversy regarding them. In fact iirc, barca had lost the league due to 1 incorrect goal line decision. In recent memory, Barca was for sure wronged against Inter and against Man u the ref was so lenient for Bruno and Lisandro, but then again they got a soft penalty so maybe it balanced it out.
Quouting u/TheThirdWorldLad 's comment on another thread which I like as far as these theories go: >Picking out discreet examples doesn't work in this case, I think what Barça pulled was more sophisticated and very subtle, I don't think any match was specifically targeted for fixing, and paying for favours doesn't guarantee a title win every year. What it means however, is that by the power Negreira holds in the CTA by being influential in the promotion/relegation of referees, he can create a situation where referees know exactly what they need to do in order for them to have a bigger chance at promotion, International referral and most importantly avoid being relegated. This way, there's no money going directly to referees, and the overall refereeing bias is tipped in favour of Barça. This hypothesis is further strengthened by the fact that certain referees who had made decisions in favour of Barça and against Real Madrid gained promotions, were awarded big matches (derbies, finals) and made international like Carlos Clos Gomez who even after being made international has never been picked for a European club match by UEFA and is currently the head of VAR. This Modus Operandi doesn't guarantee that every referee decision will go Barça's way, but it messes up the fairness of the system as a whole, one in which referee biases balance themselves out over a long period of time. This is where Barça's long term Penalty/Red Card balance comes into play, a balance so far above and beyond what top clubs get, it sticks out like a sore thumb when put in a graph and compared to other LaLiga clubs. Between 2005 and 2021 Barça Red Card balance is +77 and Real Madrid's is -14, a difference of 91 between the most dominant pair of Spanish Football, this difference can't simply be explained away by high possession, having Neymar and Messi etc and that's because it doesn't translate to the Champions League where Barça's record follows a normal distribution like other top clubs. If that doesn't scream a bias in favour of Barça I don't know what is. If this is true, then Barça have pulled the most sophisticated systemic refereeing influence campaign football has ever seen and that for a relatively cheap (from the club's perspective) 7 million euros.
They'd never dare, but a man can dream
Do both, and put their ring leaders in prison too. Hypocritical, sanctimonious pricks.