Barcelona have been provisionally cleared to play in the 2023-24 Champions League amid a UEFA investigation into allegations the club paid 8.4m euros (£7.4m) to Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, the former vice-president of Spain’s referees’ committee and his Dasnil 95 company.

In March, European football’s governing body confirmed it was looking into claims of payments made by Barcelona for favourable refereeing decisions. Although Barcelona have denied any wrongdoing.

Barca acknowledged the club had paid Dasnil 95, which it described as “an external technical consultant” to compile video reports related to professional referees “with the aim of complementing the information required by the coaching staff”.

It added that contracting the reports was “a habitual practice among professional clubs”.

While Barcelona have been allowed in Europe, UEFA reserved the right to punish the club in the future.