Nicolas Anelka has lost his legal action against L’Equipe, the French sports daily the Chelsea star had accused of libel after it published his foul-mouthed World Cup tirade at Raymond Domenech.
L’Equipe found itself in the dock after publishing a front page account of Anelka’s outburst at Domenech at half-time of France’s Group A game against Mexico in South Africa last year.
Anelka exploded after then manager Domenech told him to play in a different way in the second half of the June 17 match.
L’Equipe’s report claiming Anelka had told the then France manager “go screw yourself, dirty son of a whore” sparked a storm.
Anelka, who insisted he had never said those precise words, was expelled from the team in disgrace, with his teammates then staging their infamous mutiny as France’s World Cup campaign imploded.
L’Equipe were cleared of libel by a court in Paris on Friday, with the paper’s two journalists who had written the report – Raphael Raymond and Damien Degorre – judged to have just been doing their job.
The trial’s president, Joel Boyer, pointed out that neither party, including Anelka, had denied that a dressing room altercation had taken place nor the substance of the insults hurled at Domenech.
In his judgement Boyer dismissed Anelka’s claim that L’Equipe had been at fault by sensationalising its account by making it front page headlines.
-With The Daily Star input
