11 SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2019 sports Lawyers for Neymar, Barca lock horns in Belotti brace sinks AC Milan contract spat Andrea Belotti scored two goals to inspire Torino to a 2-1 win over AC Milan AFP | Madrid renewal bonus, which he was AC Milan slid down to awyers for Brazilian foot- to have received in instalments. • Lballer Neymar and Span- The young Brazilian quick- 13th in the points table ish champions Barcelona ly hit back with a lawsuit de- went head-to-head in court manding payment of the bonus AFP | Milan on Friday after failing to in full. avert a multi-million-dollar kipper Andrea Belotti’s battle over a tangled contract ‘The taxman watching’ quick-fire second-half dispute. Until now, the full value of Sdouble, including a sen- The hearing opened in the the bonus has never been made sational overhead kick in front early afternoon at a court in the public, but according to fig- of goal, sealed a 2-1 comeback Barcelona suburbs, but the star ures cited during the hearing, win in Serie A over AC Milan on striker was not present. the gross sum was 64.4 million Thursday. He had arrived in the city on euros, of which Neymar re - Polish striker Krzysztof Thursday but returned to Paris ceived a first tranche of 20.75 Piątek had put AC Milan ahead a day later where he was seen million. from the spot after 18 minutes training with Paris Saint-Ger- After his transfer, Barcelona in the clash between midtable main (PSG) during the after- refused to pay him the remain- rivals in the Olympic Stadium. noon. ing 43.65 million, which after But in four-minute spell, Be- Lawyers for the two sides tax amounted to a sum of 26 lotti sealed all three points for had tried to reach an agree - million euros. Walter Mazzarri’s side who had ment during closed-door rec- The Spanish club demanded suffered back-to-back losses in onciliation talks in the morn- he return the part of the bonus their previous two games. ing, but without success. already received as well as 8.5 Torino move up to sixth in “It is going to court,” Barce- million euros plus interest in the table, equal on nine points lona lawyer Josep Vives told compensation for breach of with Napoli and Cagliari after Andrea Belotti of Torino FCscores his goal from the penalty spot journalists outside the court. contract. five games, but six points behind After several hours of wran- Neymar promptly counter- leaders Inter Milan. season with 22 goals -- stepped fusion in front of the Milan goal. gling in court, the two sides sued, demanding payment of AC Milan drop to 13th, follow- up to slot in the resulting pen- Belotti sent the ball through were told to present their con- the 26 million euros with in- ing on from last weekend’s 2-0 alty. for Simone Zaza, but Don - clusions in writing on October terest. derby defeat. Belotti missed a chance to narumma cleared with the re- 21 after which the judge will Addressing the court, Barca “We didn’t want to lose a third equalise just before the break, bound finding the Italy inter- issue his ruling at a date which lawyer Carles in a row,” said Belotti. KNOW WHAT sending the ball over when national again who finished off has yet to be set. McCragh said Neymar “They made us dance in the alone in front of goal, with Pi- an acrobatic overhead kick into The case revolves around the money first half but when we returned atek also wasteful firing Alessio goal for his fourth goal in five a decision by Neymar, the was “a loy - after the break we were a dif- Torino move up to Romagnoli’s perfect cross wide games. world’s most expensive foot- alty bonus” ferent side.” on 53 minutes. Milan missed two late baller, to quit Barcelona in 2017 linked to the Both northern Italian rivals sixth in the table, But Torino piled on the pres- chances to snatch a point with and join PSG in a stunning coup length of the were desperate to get back to equal on nine points sure and it paid off with Belotti Franck Kessie hitting the ball for the French club. contract but winning ways with Milan go- with Napoli and breaking through on 72 min - wide while Piatek’s header was The move angered the Span- the club ing ahead early after a penal- Cagliari after five utes with a blistering equaliser cleared by Torino goalkeeper ish giants who filed a com - had ty awarded when Lorenzo games, but six points which left Gianluigi Donnarum- Salvatore Sirigu. plaint for breach of contract made De Silvestri fouled Rafael behind leaders Inter ma with no chance in the Milan “It was a game we had under against the 27-year-old super- an ear- Leao. Milan goal. control, but we didn’t have the star. ly pay- Piatek -- third top And the 25-year-old added a cynicism to kill it off,” said Mi- Neymar’s shock transfer ment scorer in Serie A last second minutes later amid con- lan coach Marco Giampaolo. to PSG for a world record 222 at the million euros ($250 million re- at the time) came less than quest of a year after he signed a con- Neymar’s tract that would have kept family “who Sevilla surrender two-goal lead at Eibar him at the Spanish club until were hav- 2021. ing finan- Julen Lopetegui’s side could the interval with goals in the Sociedad, who did jump up to As well as filing a lawsuit, cial prob- Eibar came from have climbed above Atletico 66th, 77th and 82nd minutes. second after continuing their Barcelona refused to pay him lems in • Madrid but instead slipped to The first was a penalty, con- excellent start to the season the remainder of his contract Brazil”. two goals down to beat their second consecutive defeat verted by Fabian Orellana. Pedro with a 3-0 win over Alaves. Sevilla 3-2 in La Liga after conceding three times in 16 Leon then capitalised on some Sevilla bought 12 new players minutes at Ipurua. poor defending from Sevilla in the last transfer window but AFP | Madrid Lucas Ocampos gave Sevilla goalkeeper Tomas Vaclik and la Real may have the signing an early lead, finishing through Diego Carlo to equalise. Cote of the summer in Martin Ode- Coutinho embraces the legs of Mark Dmitrovic in completed a remarkable come- gaard, who has moved to Anoeta evilla threw away a two-goal the 11th minute before Oliver back by scoring from a free-kick. on loan until the end of the sea- family feeling at Bayern Slead and with it the chance to Torres made it two with just Defeat leaves Sevilla seventh son from Real Madrid. go second in La Liga as they lost over half an hour played. in the table and needing a re- Odegaard joined Madrid aged AFP | Berlin here. I think that’s one of this 3-2 to Eibar on Thursday. But Eibar stormed back after sponse on Sunday against Real just 16 in 2015 but has struggled club’s principles: it’s like a to live up to the hype. Now 20, hilippe Coutinho says he family,” he told Bundesliga. the Norwegian appears to be Palready feels part of the com. finding his feet, the highlight of “family” after forging a potent Coutinho says the squad’s his display against Alaves was a partnership with Robert Le- strong spirit was summed up jaw-dropping assist for Mikel wandowski at Bayern Munich. when Lewandowski, who was Oyarzabal’s opener. The defending German on a hat-trick, handed over After picking the ball up on champions play three games penalty duties to allow him to the right, Odegaard drifted away in eight days, starting at Bun- score against Cologne. from one opponent and thread- desliga bottom side Paderborn “It was certainly a great ges- ed a remarkable pass inside two on Saturday before travelling ture. Lewy had the chance for more for his team-mate to poke to Spurs in the Champions a hat-trick, but he gave me the home. Willian Jose’s second League on Tuesday and then chance to score my first goal and a third from the impressive hosting Hoffenheim in the and I’m grateful for it,” said Oyarzabal, this time from the league. Coutinho. penalty spot, secured a convinc- After failing to fill Andre Bayern coach Niko Kovac ing win for Imanol’s side, before Iniesta’s huge shoes at Bar- says the pair’s understanding Alaves midfielder Manu Garcia celona, Coutinho is rebooting is improving “from game to was sent off with five minutes his career on loan this season, game” and also praised Le - to play. claiming his first goal in Mu- wandowski’s penalty gesture. Elsewhere on Thursday, Celta nich’s red shirt with a penalty “It’s crucial, it can be the Vigo drew 1-1 at home to Es - in last Saturday’s 4-0 win over sort of little thing which makes panyol as Santi Mina scored a Cologne. the difference. You saw it with 90th-minute equaliser for Celta The Brazilian was outstand- Lewy and Philippe - it’s what to cancel out an opener from ing and feels “right at home we need and what we want.” Eibar’s Chilean forward Fabian Orellana (L) kicks the ball Adria Pedrosa..