Barcelona calls on president of Spain's La Liga to step down

By Alyssa McMurtry

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) — FC Barcelona called on the president of Spain's La Liga to step down and "explain himself" after reportedly trying to incriminate the club with false evidence.

Last month, a Spanish court opened a corruption probe against Barcelona after it emerged that it had paid around €7 million (about $7.6 million) to the head of Spain's referee federation from 2001 to 2018.

On Monday, the Spanish daily La Vanguardia published an article alleging that La Liga President Javier Tebas provided false information about Barca regarding the investigation.

Tebas quickly denied the report and said he submitted a legal request for the story to be rectified.

Barcelona, meanwhile, escalated the issue by releasing a strongly worded statement.

"In contrast to his usual nonsense, we could never have imagined that he could try to incriminate our club with false evidence," the statement said about Tebas.

Barca claimed that it had been a victim of a media campaign, with La Liga "fanning the flames behind the scenes" of a conspiracy against the club.

Last month, Tebas called for Barcelona President Joan Laporta to resign if he could not justify Barcelona's payments to the head of the referee federation.

While Barca insists it did not pay referees, investigations are ramping up.

At the end of March, European football's governing body UEFA, opened a separate formal investigation into Barcelona surrounding the referee payment scandal.