Arsenal fans stunned by Xavi's latest comments as Barcelona 'charged with suspected bribery'

Barcelona manager Xavi has responded after his club were charged with 'suspected bribery' by a Spanish judge - and Arsenal fans have reacted.

The Catalan club were charged by Judge Joaquin Aguirre, as per Spanish outlet El Debate, over payments made to the former vice-president of the Technical Committee of Referees, Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, over a 17-year period.

Barca are alleged to have paid £7.5 million (£7.9 million) to companies owned by Negreira between 2001 and 2018, including during current president Joan Laporta's first spell in charge.

Barcelona and Laporta both deny any wrongdoing in the case.

The club said in February, as per Reuters, they had paid an external consultant who supplied them with 'technical reports related to professional refereeing', with Laporta making the same comment.

And in a statement to SPORTbible on Thursday, Barcelona said: "The FCB lawyers already considered the hypothesis that has now been reflected in the court order and have been working since the beginning on all aspects related to this motive."

Former Barca presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Sandro Rosell, as well as Negreira and his son, have also been charged. SPORTbible has attempted to contact Bartomeu, while Reuters were unable to contact Negreira.

Now, Les Cules manager Xavi has broken his silence after the charges were announced.

He denied the claims, and stated: "I have never, ever had the sensation that the referees were ruling in our favour. Never, ever."

In response, one Arsenal fan posted an incident in a Champions League quarter-final clash between the two sides in 2009.

Gunners forward Robin van Persie broke beyond the Barca defence when Arsenal were 3-2 up on aggregate.

But the referee blew his whistle for offside, before Van Persie then got his shot away. He was shown a second yellow card for kicking the ball away.

Arsenal went on to lose the tie 4-3 on aggregate, and Van Persie later accused the referee of 'killing the game'. Barcelona went on to win the Champions League that year.

In response to the clip, one Arsenal fan replied: "This is very wrong... yellow for trying to score?"

Another said: "Never a yellow."

A third added: "RVP red card was absolute madness."

A fourth wrote: "Can we get justice for the RVP red card?"

Topics: Arsenal, Barcelona, Champions League, Robin Van Persie, Fan Reactions, Xavi

Ryan Smart

Live in constant hope of the top flight as a Preston North End fan. Written in the past for SPORF, GiveMeSport and more.