FC Barcelona is enjoying a terrific run in La Liga but has been quite shaky outside of it, especially in European competitions. However, they have been in the news for other reasons, reasons they aren’t entirely unfamiliar with. The club was caught making hidden payments to former head referee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreria under multiple presidents (including Joan Laporta, in his first term) for over 20 years.
These new reports have put Barcelona in a very traumatic position and they are currently struggling to make any plausible case to turn these allegations down. While their future remains uncertain, adding fuel to this current scandal is former Bayern Munich CEO Karl-Heinz Rummenigge. Bet on all Barcelona matches on NextBet.
“I laughed when I read the news, but I am not surprised. Every time we played in Spain I had a strange feeling. These are unacceptable things that do not only concern the domestic competition and even the refereeing issue must be faced with seriousness and respect,” Rummenigge said.
One of the greatest goal-scorers the game has ever seen, Rummenigge served as Bayern Munich’s CEO for 19 years, lasting from 2002 to 2021. He paved the way for another club legend in Oliver Khan, who took up the reigns from Rummenigge soon after. Follow all updates related to Barcelona on NextBet Sports.
However, the interesting thing to note here is that nothing might happen to the Catalans at least in Spain. The La Liga has a pitifully short statute of limitations and the offenses that the club is accused of, already falls outside of their purview. This was confirmed by La Liga Chief Javier Tebas, who has been accused of being very harsh to the Catalan club with his dealings over the years.
Multiple debates were raging in Germany about the referees’ lack of being on top of their game despite the availability of VAR. This new debate took light after Bayern Munich lost to Borussia Monchengladbach 3-2 over the weekend in the Bundesliga. A weird incident saw Dayot Upamecano get a red card early on in the game, which left the club at a disadvantage straight away.
This defeat meant that Bayern are now level on points with their next week’s opponents Union Berlin at the top of the points table.
