Fan sues spitting footballer
A Celtic fan is suing a Liverpool footballer and his club for £50,000 after the Premiership star spat on him during a Uefa Cup clash in March 2003.
Dominic Schiavone, from Glenrothes, Fife, is seeking damages from Senegal striker El-Hadji Diouf and his club.
Diouf was fined £5,000 at Glasgow Sheriff Court last year after pleading guilty to assault under provocation.
Mr Schiavone claims he has been unable to return to Celtic's Parkhead ground since he was spat on.
Court fine
His lawyers launched the action at the Sheriff Court in Glasgow on 8 July.
The court granted Schiavone's Dunfermline-based solicitors, Morgans, up to 12 months to formally serve a writ on Diouf and Liverpool FC.
If that happens, the striker and the club will have 21 days to lodge an intention to defend.
The controversial incident occurred during a quarter-final first leg tie between the two clubs on 13 March last year.
Diouf over-ran an attempt to reach a ball in the 86th minute of the match and landed in a seated area full of Celtic fans.
During the court case, the procurator fiscal said Mr Schiavone helped the player back up on to his feet and patted him on the head .
Public apology
In response, the £10m player turned around and spat at Mr Schiavone, who was 18 at the time.
In his defence, Diouf said he had been in shock after his fall and argued he had been "struck" on the head and had not been patted.
His solicitor added that in Senegalese culture it was "degrading, insulting and patronising" to be touched in such a way on the back of the head as slave traders had treated slaves that way in the past.
The 23-year-old former African Footballer of the Year was also fined two weeks' wages and sent Celtic a £30,000 cheque for a charity of the club's choice.
He made a public apology and was later banned for two European matches by footballing body Uefa.
However, Uefa's disciplinary panel decided Diouf had been incited by supporters and fined Celtic £2,300.
Source: BBC News
