Barcelona are facing charges of corruption over alleged payments totalling €7.3m (£6.4m) made to high-ranking Spanish referee Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira between 2001 and 2018.

Club president Joan Laporta has come out to defend Barcelona, and has said that Barcelona aren’t guilty of the charges.

La Liga president Javier Tebas has now said that Barcelona are at risk of relegation, if found guilty.

“The punishment for the Negreira case ranges from a warning to the relegation to the second division,” La Liga president Javier Tebas said during a recent interview.

“If the judge says so…then yes [Barca will be relegated]. This is what the judge decides, as he did with Elche a few years ago. The only power I had was to condemn certain facts, and I would condemn them. The sanctions are not my responsibility.

“The road is long, but there are behaviours that have no explanation. The procedures are being investigated.

“The club can be convicted, but the directors can also be acquitted. Anything is possible.”