Mourinho recalls Real Madrid’s Negreira-era ‘bad luck’ with referees

Mourinho says he witnessed the Negreira period at Real Madrid

José Mourinho has linked his past complaints about refereeing to what he described as “bad luck” at particular clubs, recalling his spell at Real Madrid during the period now associated with the Negreira case.

“I don’t think the problem is me,” Mourinho told Corriere dello Sport. “The problem is the bad luck I have when I arrive at a particular club. I experienced Negreira’s important period here at Real Madrid. Nobody knew it, but we lived through it. It happened. It happened.”

Mourinho said he left Madrid before the issue became widely known. He also compared the pattern he says he has experienced to events in Turkey, referring to a major scandal there and saying similar situations had happened to him often.

Case returns to the spotlight

The comments arrive as the Negreira case has again drawn attention following Real Madrid’s submission of a dossier of information to UEFA. The case concerns payments by Barcelona to companies linked to José María Enríquez Negreira, a former vice-president of Spain’s refereeing committee; the source report does not provide further detail on the dossier or UEFA’s next steps.

La Liga president Javier Tebas has called the case “extremely serious” and said it should be investigated. He has also criticized Madrid’s continued suggestion that Negreira still influences Spanish refereeing, describing that claim as a “narrative.”