Laporta, Luis Enrique and Valverde in court, deny links to the "Negreira" case

Barcelona president Joan Laporta appeared in court today to testify in the much-discussed Negreira case, a scandal that has raised accusations against the Catalan club for corruption and suspicious payments to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, former vice-president of the Referees' Technical Committee.

During his testimony, Laporta categorically denied any connection with Negreira or his inner circle. "In fact, I don't know Negreira or anyone from his circle. I have never had any kind of relationship with them. We paid for reports, in no case to favor Barcelona. We didn't need favors," Laporta said.

He added that the payments were inherited from the previous administration and were based on the advice of the club's sporting directors. "We inherited those payments. I asked the sporting directors and they told us to continue with the reports. We don't have the reports from the first phase because they are destroyed every five years. Their cost did not have to go through the board's control, it was a big deal," he added. Former Barcelona coaches Luis Enrique and Ernesto Valverde also testified via video link, denying that they were informed or involved in any relationship with Negreira. "We were not aware of the refereeing reports from Negreira," the former Catalans said.

The evidence is expected to have great weight in the ongoing legal process, which has shocked Spanish football and is being closely followed by public opinion.