Spanish referees defend themselves amid Barcelona scandal

By JOSEPH WILSON
Associated Press

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain’s referees have gathered in Madrid to defend their profession in the wake of a scandal involving Barcelona’s payment of millions of dollars over several years to a former referee then acting as their vice president. Hundreds of current and former referees and assistants tried to distance themselves from the relationship between Barcelona and former referee José María Enríquez Negreira. Barcelona denies any wrongdoing. A Spanish state prosecutor is probing the payments that appear to have run from 2001-18. Referee José Sánchez says “we want to make clear that no one has more at stake than we do in assuring that justice is served.”