Sevilla take a swipe back at Levy

THE SEVILLA president, Jose Maria del Nido, has accused Tottenham of being "hypocrisy personified" over their complaints against Liverpool and Manchester United for what the London club perceive to have been a public and illegal courting of Robbie Keane and Dimitar Berbatov.

Spurs submitted a complaint to the Premier League with their chairman, Daniel Levy, claiming the behaviour of both clubs had been "disgraceful" in their pursuit of the players. But Del Nido was outraged to learn of Tottenham's sense of grievance with Sevilla still smarting after losing their manager, Juande Ramos, to Spurs in controversial circumstances last autumn.

"I think it is hypocrisy personified that Spurs are complaining about things they themselves have done," said Del Nido, whose side are competing in the Railways Cup along with Milan, Lokomotiv Moscow and Chelsea this weekend. "They took away our manager. I think Tottenham's style is demonstrated by the way they contracted Juande Ramos."

Ramos was photographed at a Sevilla hotel visited by a delegation of Tottenham officials last August. He denied meeting the group from the London club at the time but, after being shown the photographs, claimed he had been meeting friends. Spurs denied they were looking to replace their manager Martin Jol at the time, though he was sacked in October and replaced by Ramos.

Relations between Sevilla and Ramos are strained, with each suing the other. "Sevlla have a claim against Juande and Juande has a claim against us and it is being dealt with in the courts of our city," said Del Nido. "It is not a case for Fifa, only for the normal courts. It has nothing to do with Tottenham - just Sevilla and Juande."

Levy expressed his frustration last month at the prospect of losing both Keane and Berbatov. Tottenham have since accepted an apology from Rafael Benitez, with a donation made to charity, and sanctioned Keane's move to Liverpool, though their dispute with United remains ongoing.

Levy accused Alex Ferguson of "sheer arrogance and interference with one of our players" after committing "one of the worst offences by any manager in the Premier League to date" over comments he reportedly made concerning an interest in Berbatov. The United manager denies making the claim.