Court orders Diego Maradona to pay for Sergio Batista's legal fees

Buenos Aires, Nov 26 (IANS) Famed Argentine ex-footballer Diego Maradona must pay the legal expenses of Shanghai Shenhua team coach Sergio Batista for alleging he took bribes from national players, an Argentine court has ruled.

The ruling by a criminal court in the capital here called for Maradona to pay Batista's legal team 39,000 pesos (about 4,600 dollars), judicial sources said Tuesday, reports Xinhua.

Batista, 52, coached Argentina's national team from Nov 2, 2010, after Maradona's departure, until July 25, 2011, when the team was eliminated in the quarter-final round of the Copa America championship hosted by Argentina.

Shortly after that loss in September 2011, Maradona said Batista "had bribes arranged" with football players who wanted to play on the national team, regardless of their level of play.

Batista, who was Maradona's teammate in two World Cups (Mexico 1986, which they won, and Italy 1990, in which they took second place), sued the outspoken former national team captain.

Maradona later publicly retracted his statement and the suit was dropped, but the legal expenses remained.