In his first major interview after almost two years in prison, former Barcelona president Sandro Rosell made it clear that he has his suspicions about the case which put him behind bars.
Rosell was cleared of money laundering after spending two years in police custody as investigations continued about commissions paid to him by the former president of the Brazilian Football Federation, Ricardo Teixeira.”My case wasn’t a judicial error,
it was a conspiracy,” Rosell insisted, speaking to Lo de Evole on La Sexta.”The situation in Catalonia influenced it, it seems that if you are Catalan, you’re a criminal.”Before they respected you, now it’s ‘go for them’, they have to look into that, it didn’t help to be Catalan.
Rosell also discussed the controversial signing of Neymar which was behind the accusations.”It gave me a lot of enemies, the word enemy is very strong but there was extra rivalry,” Rosell confessed.”They have asked for five years in jail for the case which is still open about Neymar, I’m not scared.
“Rosell revealed that no Barcelona player had reached out to his family since the case began.”As I remember, no player has contacted my family, it’s part of the sports professional’s world and their bubble, if the topic isn’t about the ball, they don’t get involved.”Despite everything,
Rosell seemed unsure as to whether he regrets becoming Barcelona president, but was reluctant to respond to the question directly.”Sometimes I thought why did I get involved in this mess?”
he admitted.”Before I became president I didn’t have any cases against me, since then I have had 72.”Rosell is now free again as other cases continue to be investigated.
