Barcelona's vice-president of social affairs, Jordi Cardoner, has said he views the decision to hold a trial over the signing of Neymar as an attack on Catalonia.
Spain's National Court announced on Wednesday that it had accepted the state prosecutor's request to open a trial against Barcelona, club president Josep Bartomeu and his predecessor Sandro Rosell for alleged tax evasion linked to Neymar's arrival from Santos in 2013.
The trial centres on investigators' allegations that the club only declared that they paid €57.1 million for the player when they actually paid "at least'' €83.371m.
The news emerged the day after Barca had booked their place in the Champions League final, and Cardoner told RAC1 that he considered it "obvious" that such incidents were timed to coincide with the club's successes.
"Each time we have a moment of great joy -- and this year fortunately that has been on the pitch -- it has to be quieted the following day with some sports news and that is an objective assessment," he said.
"This isn't an attack just on Barcelona, it's an attack against the country, Catalonia, because Barca is the flagship of Catalanism," he added in quotes translated by AS. "Nothing is coincidental in these times."
Barca will meet Juventus in the Champions League final in Berlin on June 6 after the Italian champions eliminated Real Madrid on Wednesday night.
Cardoner said he was "delighted that Real Madrid will not be our opponents in the final."