La Liga title race: Could Real Madrid offer Granada 'bonuses' to beat Barcelona?

La Liga’s title race will be decided on Saturday, the final day of the domestic league season

Lionel Messi in action against Granada earlier this season (Getty)

Granada’s Ivan Kelava has refuted claims that the club’s players have considered accepting incentives from Real Madrid to defeat Barcelona this weekend.

La Liga’s title race will be decided on Saturday, the final day of the domestic league season, with Barça in prime position to secure their second consecutive league championship.

Real Madrid must return from their trip to Deportivo La Coruna with maximum points and hope that Granada, who ensured top-flight survival last weekend, take points off the leaders.

The practice of offering bonuses, known as maletines (briefcases), is prohibited in Spanish football, which nonetheless has a history of incentivising at the end of the season.

Kelava was accused of telling Goal that Real Madrid would be able to offer a ‘bonus’ to his side despite them having nothing to play for and that the practice was ‘normal’ in Spain.

The 28-year-old Croatian international goalkeeper, however, adamantly denied such claims on Twitter a few hours after the quotes began to circulate.

In the interview with Goal, Kelava makes no reference to incentivising and instead concentrates on the possibility of facing compatriot Mateo Kovacic and the final day permutations.

“It's crazy here,” he said. “We have been celebrating avoiding relegation for three days. And on the last day Barcelona plays with us and Madrid against Deportivo, who also secured the final day survival.”

Speculation as to whether maletines will play a part in La Liga’s deciding weekend is, nevertheless, rife in the Spanish media. Sport, a daily newspaper based in Barcelona, led with the headline “Briefcases? No thanks,” on Tuesday.

Former Osasuna midfielder and Spain international Jose Antonio Martin Dominguez, also known as Peton, admitted on the same day that he had received incentives as a player, telling football television show El Chringuito: "I have received third-party incentive money. I was paid by Albacete to beat Zamora."