Le procès du Formula One Award par Bernie Ecclestone

Formula One supremo Bernie Ecclestone has revisited his German bribery trial in a mischievous Christmas card depicting himself handing over $100 million to a masked highwayman pointing a pistol at him.

"This is not a robbery. I am collecting for the Bavarian state," says the cartoon figure on horseback as Ecclestone holds the sack of money. In a further greeting inside the card sent to Reuters, Ecclestone added another tongue-in-cheek comment to further stoke the fires. "Maybe now we can have a Formula One race in the really nice city of Munich, Germany."

Ecclestone paid $100 million (£64m) in August under the terms of a settlement agreement with prosecutors to end the bribery trial in Munich. The agreement meant Ecclestone, now 84, preserved his innocence and was spared the prospect of a lengthy trial. He had one week to pay the money -- $99 million to the state and $1 million to a children's charity -- and did so. Ecclestone had been accused of channelling cash to jailed BayernLB banker Gerhard Gribkowsky to smooth the sale of a major stake in Formula One to private equity fund CVC, now the largest shareholder in the businessAlmeria coach Francisco has suggested Cristiano Ronaldo is selfish and is the only player to value individual awards over team prizes.

AS reports Francisco as speaking at the Nexa Forum in the city and the subject of Ronaldo and Lionel Messi was raised. Francisco hinted that Messi was more of a team player and that if Ronaldo wasn’t so effective, he wouldn’t be able to be so single-minded. “Messi will be grateful to all the colleagues he has had in his career,” he said. “The only person I know who is happy for individual awards is Cristiano, and he said so last week. But he is very good and he has to be very good to say that.” Francisco also criticised Jose Mourinho for the way the Chelsea manager works with his players. “We all know he gets a lot out of his team, though perhaps he isn’t so attached to his players as people,” he continued. “We have seen clear examples where the human side hasn’t mattered.”

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