A Barcelona court on Monday confirmed it closed the case regarding Barcelona's signing of Neymar, according to Moisés Llorens of AS. This means that the accusations implicating former President Sandro Rosell and current President Josep Maria Bartomeu "have disappeared," meaning the club itself will have to pay the fine of €5.5M ($6.1M). This will close the proceedings brought about by a complaint filed by club member Jordi Cases in Dec. '13 (AS, 7/11). The EFE reported Spanish Chief Prosecutor Javier Alberto Zaragoza announced that in "two or three days" an appeal will be presented against the decision to close the case against Neymar and his father. Zaragoza said that the District Attorney's Office respects the decision, but believes that there are "signs and solid facts to understand that there are some punishable behaviors that have to be examined in a trial and by a court" (EFE, 7/11).
PASSING GRADES: MUNDO DEPORTIVO reported Barcelona announced the results of its "Observatori Blaugrana," a survey of its members that it carries out every six months to evaluate the "different departments of the club." Barcelona members rated their satisfaction with the club's overall situation at 7.8 out of 10. The members rated their satisfaction with the club's sporting results at 8.5 out of 10 (MUNDO DEPORTIVO, 7/11).
NOT BACKING DOWN: FOOTBALL ESPANA reported Barcelona vowed "not to back down" in its Lionel Messi social-media campaign as "the club are defending a player who has been treated unfairly." Barça launched a Twitter campaign using the hashtag #WeAreAllLeoMessi, "but it was quickly ridiculed by fans of rival clubs," who accused Barcelona of "condoning criminal acts." Club spokesperson Josep Vives said, "It’s a campaign that began Saturday afternoon. It’s created a huge impact, but as it’s caused some controversy, we want to explain our reasons for the campaign. ... There may be criticism or [different] interpretations, but we fully believe in him. ... It turns out that he corrected the situation with the Tax Office with a huge fine of €50 million ($55.3M), plus he’s the biggest contributor to the Spanish state" (FOOTBALL ESPANA, 7/11).
