Barcelona are said to be ‘confident’ that they will avoid a ban from the UEFA Champions League amid their ongoing corruption case.

Barça have been charged with ‘continuous sporting corruption’ by Spanish courts, with it alleged that they made several payments to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira – the former vice-president of Spain’s refereeing committee – over information and analysis of match officials which could benefit them.

It had previously been speculated that any wrongdoing could result in Barcelona being barred from entering the Champions League, with UEFA confirming on Thursday they are launching their own investigation into the scandal.

UEFA’s statement read: “In accordance with Article 31(4) of the UEFA Disciplinary Regulations, UEFA Ethics and Disciplinary Inspectors have today been appointed to conduct an investigation regarding a potential violation of UEFA’s legal framework by FC Barcelona in connection with the so-called ‘Caso Negreira’.”

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However, the Daily Mail report that Barcelona are ‘confident’ that UEFA will not hit them with a ban or financial penalty.

La Blaugrana maintain their innocence in the scandal and believe that any punishment from UEFA could be legally reversed or challenged if they are found not guilty by Spanish courts.

Barcelona are already in financial trouble having failed to reap the lucrative rewards of reaching the Champions League knockout stages for two seasons running.

Part of the charges against Barcelona claim that they paid Negreira and his company in order to receive preferential treatment from referees.

“Through presidents [Sandro] Rosell and [Josep Maria] Bartomeu, Barcelona reached and maintained a strictly confidential verbal agreement with the defendant Negreira, so that, in his capacity as vice-president of the refereeing committee and in exchange for money, he would carry out actions aimed at favouring Barcelona in the decision making of the referees in the matches played by the club, and thus in the results of the competitions,” Spanish prosecutors said.

This key detail hints at match-fixing, which is punishable by UEFA with a ban from European competition.

La Liga have already ruled out sporting sanctions against Barcelona as these charges are historic, but president Javier Tebas has claimed he will revisit the case if the club are found guilty.

Despite the mass of negative press that has surrounded Barcelona over the past two to three seasons and particularly right now in the wake of the Casa Negreira referee payments scandal, they have been having a great time on the pitch.

The Blaugrana are sitting very pretty at the top of La Liga with a 12-point lead over current champions Real Madrid and have the lead in the Copa del Rey semi-final tie between the two sides, meaning they are well set to win two trophies this season.

The European campaign may have not gone to plan after dropping out of the Champions League and then being booted out of the Europa League by Manchester United, but Xavi Hernandez is certainly doing a really good job on the pitch with a squad that still needs a lot of work.

While the La Liga title will be Xavi’s main aim, he could be about to break a pretty special record with his Barcelona side.

As things stand, the current Barcelona side is set to break the record for the fewest goals conceded per game across a league campaign.

Barcelona have only conceded nine times in their 26 La Liga games so far which means they are averaging 0.346 goals conceded per game. That puts them at the top of the leaderboard for the best defensive records ever in the top five leagues in Europe.

They are currently beating the record that was set by Cagliari back in the 1969/70 season. In the 30 Serie A games that season, they only conceded 11 goals. Barcelona have still got 12 games left to play this season but on current trajectory, even if they concede more goals than that Cagliari side, they could beat the record.

If they concede four more goals, they would still beat the record and end with a goals conceded per game rate of 0.342, better than Cagliari’s 0.367.

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Spanish sides do not feature very heavily on the list with English and Italian teams dominating the standings for the historic best defences in the top five European leagues.

It would be a big surprise now if Barcelona do not set the record for La Liga sides. It currently belongs to the Atletico Madrid side from 2015/16 which conceded 18 goals in the 38 games, setting a record of 0.474. That is matched exactly by the 1993/94 Deportivo La Coruna side.

Barcelona would need to concede the same amount of goals in the last 12 games as they have in the first 26 games to not break the Spanish record, which would be a big surprise.

It was not necessarily expected that Barcelona would be so good at the back this season. They have had quite a lot of injuries and rotation with the full-backs this season which should work against them.

The major benefit is that both Andreas Christensen and Jules Kounde have settled into life at Barcelona really well, while Ronaldo Araujo has shown when fit he is one of the strongest defenders in Europe. Having Sergio Busquets still playing well in front of them also makes it much easier.

The other key ingredient is the superb form of Marc-Andre ter Stegen in goal. The goalkeeper has to take a huge amount of credit for those defensive numbers, but it is certainly a team effort.

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On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss the race to sign Jude Bellingham, Antonio Conte’s Tottenham future, Roy Hodgson’s return to Crystal Palace, Erling Haaland’s contract, Mason Mount & more!

If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!

Celta Vigo president Carlos Mourino has conceded that 20-year-old midfielder Gabri Veiga will be sold this summer but has warned interested parties that they will have to trigger his release clause to get a deal done.

90min understands that Barcelona and Real Madrid are both keen to land Veiga, whose contract includes a €40m release clause, while most of the Premier League’s elite have kept informed about the midfielder.

Arsenal, Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester City all scouted Veiga earlier this season and officials from Manchester United, Newcastle, Brighton and Brentford have since been present at Celta games to report on the Spaniard.

Speaking to Mundo Deportivo, Celta president Mourino admitted that they will be powerless to keep Veiga but stressed that there will be no negotiating over his €40m release clause.

“We do not want to sell Gabri Veiga, but they are going to buy him from us,” Mourino said. “And we can’t do anything about it. We know some of their offers and it’s impossible for us to match them.

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“There are several teams chasing Gabri. Real Madrid? They haven’t spoken to us, we don’t know if they have spoken to the player. Of the top ten teams in the Premier League, four have asked us about him.

“For us, and to make it clear, he is not for sale. We have nothing to negotiate with anyone. We refer to the clause. The decision is Gabri’s, he will play wherever he wants.”

90min understands Veiga is likely to remain in La Liga this summer, with a move to Real Madrid, Barcelona or even fellow suitors Atletico Madrid seen as more plausible than a switch to the Premier League.

LISTEN NOW

On this edition of Talking Transfers, part of the 90min podcast network, Scott Saunders, Graeme Bailey & Toby Cudworth discuss the race to sign Jude Bellingham, Antonio Conte’s Tottenham future, Roy Hodgson’s return to Crystal Palace, Erling Haaland’s contract, Mason Mount & more!

If you can’t see this embed, click here to listen to the podcast!