Barcelona has denied reports made by Spanish online newspaper El Confidencial on 4 July that phone calls intercepted by police showed the football club's former president, Rosell, had illegally paid for a liver that was donated to French footballer Éric Abidal. Abidal, who is now the club's director of football, claimed that the liver was donated by his cousin. Spain's national transplant organisation launched a joint investigation with the hospital where the transplant took place in 2012, and with Catalan transplant authorities, but found no grounds for the accusation.
Barcelona has denied reports made by Spanish online newspaper El Confidencial on 4 July that phone calls intercepted by police showed the football club's former president, Sandro Rosell, had illegally paid for a liver that was donated to French footballer Éric Abidal. Abidal, who is now the club's director of football, claimed that the liver was donated by his cousin. Spain's national transplant organisation launched a joint investigation with the hospital where the transplant took place in 2012, and with Catalan transplant authorities, but found no grounds for the accusation.