Mourinho hurls strong accusations at Barcelona – nobody knew

Jose Mourinho has again raised the Negreira affair in an interview with the Corriere dello Sport and sharply criticised Barcelona. The Portuguese coach recalled that he coached the royals during his first spell at Real Madrid, a period that later became the subject of investigations.

Reference to Real Madrid and the Investigation Period

The coach emphasized that he was at Real Madrid from 2010 to 2013 and that he experienced the “most important phase of the Negreira affair” during this period. He said: “When I first arrived at Real Madrid, I experienced the most important phase of the Negreira affair. Nobody knew about it, but we lived through it ourselves.”

The affair concerns payments by FC Barcelona to companies linked to José María Enríquez Negreira. Negreira was vice‑president of the Technical Referees Committee from 1994 to 2018, and the payments under investigation span from 2001 to 2018 – thus covering the entire first spell of Mourinho in Madrid.

Real Madrid has submitted additional documents to UEFA that are to be examined as part of the procedure that has been ongoing since 2023. The documents are intended to further substantiate the allegations against Barcelona.

Barcelona responded that UEFA has neither opened a new procedure nor resumed the existing one, because the latter was never officially concluded. The club also stressed that it has not received any new requests from UEFA.

Mourinho's statements came a few days after the affair was brought back into focus, and demonstrate that the issue continues to generate discussion in European football.