ESPN FC’s fantasy expert Mark Donaldson shares his tips for this weekend’s La Liga matches, including choosing Real Madrid’s Luka Modric who has a tasty match up with Levante.
ESPN FC’s Ale Moreno and Ross Dyer make their picks for the weekend’s key La Liga fixtures.
During his presentation as ambassador of the Spanish League, former Colombian international Pibe Valderrama also spoke about the future of the national team.
Manu Garcia struck true and left no time for an answer, as Alavés knocked off Real Madrid at a rowdy Mendizorrotza Stadium.
Real Madrid’s Karim Benzema is “totally annoyed” by allegations members of his entourage were involved in an attempted kidnapping and is to make a complaint to police for defamation, the striker’s lawyer told RMC.
He tweeted “#GiveMeABreak” along with a vomiting emoji after learning Leo D’Souza had made a police complaint for kidnapping and false imprisonment on Monday.
D’Souza said people close to Benzema had tried to illegally detain him outside a shisha bar in Paris’ 13th arrondisement following Paris Saint-Germain’s 5-0 league win over Lyon on Oct. 7.
Benzema, who had been at the Parc des Princes to see his former club’s defeat, was not at the scene of the alleged incident in which L’Equipe reports a childhood friend of Benzema’s attempted to forcefully detain D’Souza.
His friend, his head of communications and marketing and his Paris chauffeur, who were all present, claimed there was no violence on their part, and that D’Souza had “thrown himself to the ground.”
“I discovered that it was not my client who was being targeted, but an acquaintance he has in common with Mr. D’Souza,” Benzema’s lawyer, Sylvain Cormier, told RMC. “Mr. D’Souza is trying to hide a little swindle by making a police complaint and damaging Mr. Benzema. They have not worked together. Perhaps Mr. D’Souza had dreams that were bigger than his abilities and he’s letting off steam with this lie-filled and abusive complaint.
“My client is being hammered in a gratuitous and cynical way. We have made a police complaint for abuse of trust and [on Friday] we’ll make a police complaint for defamation. I have spoken to my client, he is totally annoyed that they are wanting to hurt him through this abusive complaint. Karim has nothing to do with this matter. When he had this problem with Mr. D’Souza, we spoke about it. This fantasy in which there is supposed to have been a kidnapping, it’s grotesque.”
Cormier told ESPN Deportes’ Paola Nunez that he has already filed a lawsuit on Benzema’s behalf against D’Souza.
Mediapart alleges the root of the problem stems from July 23 when D’Souza, who had been employed as an assistant by Benzema to organise his holidays among other things, was asked by the player to bring €50,000 from Morocco to France.
D’Souza said the money, which was the result of work done by Benzema for a sponsor, was seized by customs officers at Marrakech airport, while Benzema’s entourage — according to Mediapart — have a receipt for the money from the same customs officials, and believe D’Souza kept the sum for himself.
No investigating judge has yet been appointed to look into the matter, L’Equipe reports, while D’Souza is the only person to have been interviewed by police so far.
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