Mourinho reopens Negreira 16 days before his first Clásico back at Madrid

By the Data Desk · Published 9 OCT 09:30

"Nobody knew, but we lived it": José Mourinho has brought the Negreira case into the build-up to his first Clásico since returning to Real Madrid, 16 days before the game at Camp Nou. He told Corriere dello Sport that he coached Madrid during "the important times of Negreira", the years in which Barcelona paid the company of the former vice-president of Spain's referees' committee.

• Mourinho: "Io ho vissuto qui al Real Madrid i tempi importanti di Negreira. Nessuno sapeva, però li abbiamo vissuti."
• With Madrid in 2010–13 he won 5 of 17 Clásicos, drew 6 and lost 6.
• Barcelona v Real Madrid is on Sunday 25 October at 21:00 Madrid time; first comes Villarreal at home on Saturday.

The interview with editor Ivan Zazzaroni, filmed at Real Madrid's training ground and published on Thursday, was mostly about Roma until the talk turned to referees. "Non penso che il problema sia io. Penso che il problema sia la fortuna dei momenti in cui arrivo in un determinato club" (I don't think the problem is me; I think it is the luck of the moments when I arrive at a certain club), he said, before naming Negreira. In Spanish outlets the line spread as "Nadie lo sabía, pero lo hemos vivido" (COPE, via Europa Press).

He tied it to Turkey too, saying the big refereeing scandal there came after his time at Fenerbahçe, where he was coach from June 2024 to August 2025. On Manchester City, found guilty by an independent commission and still waiting for their sanction, he chose a joke: at his age, he said, he would need to be lucky to still be around for the final verdict.

The Negreira case itself is far from a verdict. Barcelona were charged in 2023 over payments of more than €7.3m between 2001 and 2018 to the company of José María Enríquez Negreira; the club says the money paid for refereeing reports and denies wrongdoing. Marca has reported that a trial is likely in autumn 2027, and no date has been set.

Madrid are fourth in LaLiga on 15 points, six behind Barcelona, and host Villarreal on Saturday at 21:00 Madrid time (20:00 UK). Barcelona have not answered Mourinho. The referee for 25 October has not been appointed yet.