Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is suing the Mirror Group Newspapers over an article that said the club's manager, Carlo Ancelotti, had three games to avoid the sack, British media reported on Friday.
The March 23 article in the Daily Mirror was "highly sensational", "inflammatory" a writ lodged at the high court in London claimed.
"The defendant chose to publish this false and obviously damaging (and destabilising) 'story' that Mr Ancelotti had been issued with an ultimatum without bothering to check it with the claimants prior to publication, despite the obvious ease with which this could have been done and in breach of the most basic tenets of responsible journalism," the writ states.
The writ also claimed that the piece suggested Chelsea were guilty of putting their manager under "intolerable pressure." The inclusion of a photograph of he manager with the caption "Watch your step: Ancelotti is under pressure" added to this impression, the writ also said.
Chelsea and tycoon Abramovich are claiming damages and costs.
MOSCOW, December 10 (RIA Novosti)
