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Diego Costa arrives at court in Madrid as former Chelsea striker ratifies deal with Spanish authorities to pay £480,000 fine in tax fraud case

Diego Costa appeared in court in Madrid on Thursday to ratify a deal he made with Spanish prosecutors to resolve a tax fraud case against him.

Prosecutors were asking for a six-month prison sentence and a fine of €507,000 (£450,000) to punish the Atletico Madrid striker for defrauding the Spanish state of more than €1m (£900,000) in 2014.

According to a court filing published last month, the 31-year-old did not declare payments of just over €5m (£4.4m) from his 2014 transfer from Atletico to Chelsea in his tax return, as well as more than €1m (£900,000) in image rights.