Doping: Spanish court rules that Le Monde must pay €300,000 to Real Madrid for defamation

The French daily newspaper Le Monde must pay €300,000 in damages to Real Madrid (Liga BBVA) for libel, ruled the Spanish Supreme Court on 24/02/2014.

In 2006, Le Monde published an article entitled "Doping: football after cycling," in which the journalist Stéphane Mandard produced "supporting evidence" that the Real Madrid team had used the services of doctor Eufemiano Fuentes, suspected at the time to be at the heart of an extensive network of blood doping in sport and who was "sentenced in April 2013 for illegal sports medicine in the trial of Operation Puerto," said the French publication on 25/02/2014.

Le Monde is also ordered to pay €30,000 to Alfonso del Corral, medical director of Real Madrid from 1994 to 2007, and €15,000 to FC Barcelona (Liga BBVA), also for libel after accusing the club in the article to be in direct contact with Dr. Fuentes. At trial, the amount payable to the Catalan club was set at €300,000, but the Spanish Supreme Court did not accept this amount on the grounds that it had not been filed on appeal by the club.

In total, Le Monde was ordered to pay…