Barca 'WILL play in the UCL next season as they'll be granted a licence in May'

Barcelona will be given their licence to compete in next season's Champions League, according to a new report in Spain, despite an ongoing investigation into claims the club made payments to the vice-president of the country's referees.

On Wednesday, Barcelona's LaLiga race hit a brief bumpy patch with a 2-1 defeat at Rayo Vallecano. They are still 11 points clear of Real Madrid with seven matches left.

Barcelona have already qualified directly for the group stage of next season's Champions League competition, and would be eager to avenge a group stage exit this season.

There were some fears that Barcelona might be excluded from the Champions League after prosecutors charged the club with corruption in March over alleged payments made to the then vice-president of the Spanish referees' committee.

This led UEFA to instigate its own investigation into the claims against Barcelona, although they have not found any reason to punish the club yet.

Therefore, Mundo Deportivo report that the committee in charge of matters will grant a Champions League licence to the Catalan giants on May 15, in line with the normal procedure.

Earlier in the week, it was reported that UEFA are doing everything they can do swiftly resolve the investigation against Barcelona - and also one against Serie A side Juventus.

Barcelona president Joan Laporta spoke to UEFA's head Aleksander Ceferin in a bid to defend the club amid the accusations of alleged referee payments. Ceferin previously described the case as 'one of the most serious in football'.

Barcelona has been accused of maintaining a relationship with Jose Maria Enriquez Negreira, claiming that money exchanged hands for actions that would lead to favourable decision making by match officials

The prosecution says €7.3million (£6.46m) was paid by the club to two companies owned by Negreira across two decades.

The windfall from elite European competition will help Barcelona financially, with the club already needing to cut their wage bill to meet LaLiga's Fair Play rules.

Barcelona continue their bid to reclaim Spain's domestic league from Real Madrid when they host Real Betis on Saturday night.