The 2009 Champions League victory by Barcelona over Chelsea has been referred to as “one of the worst robberies in football” by Real Madrid legend, Iker Casillas.
It was revealed that the La Liga heavyweights paid Enriquez Negreira – the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees – a total of €1.4m between 2016 and 2018.
However, the Ex-Madrid goalkeeper Casillas is not convinced by Barca’s claims that they breached no laws and were not trying to gain an advantage through such transactions.
Instead, he believes that the Clasico giants from Camp Nou were buying favor with the referees.
While attending the Kings League seven-a-side competition, Casillas heard former Barca defender Gerard Pique say of the Negreira saga: “I’ll tell you one thing. If we let the cat out of the bag, we look at UEFA and the Champions League and there Real Madrid’s [name] comes up…. all over the place.”
World Cup winner Casillas then responded by pointing back to Barca’s infamous Champions League semi-final triumph over Chelsea in 2008-09.
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Pep Guardiola’s side benefited from a number of questionable refereeing decisions to secure a second-leg draw at Stamford Bridge and progress on away goals.
“What you guys have to do is to be quiet. That was one of the biggest robberies people have ever seen in football,” Casillas said.
Piqué: “That penalty Pepe got for his dive against Elche was one of Madrid’s most historic embarrassments.”
Casillas: “Well, what’s embarrassing was your match against Chelsea.” pic.twitter.com/45lKNvQMi3
— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) February 11, 2023
Pique continued by claiming that a goal against Atletico Madrid that was incorrectly disallowed once prevented Barcelona from winning the La Liga, with Casillas also pointing out that Real suffered the consequences of some dubious rulings in critical league and cup matches.
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