THREE Leicester city footballers accused of sexual assault have been given bail after a court hearing yesterday in Cartagena, Spain.

But it was thought Paul Dickov, Frank Sinclair and Keith Gillespie might have to spend another night in jail if they were unable to raise bail money, their lawyer said.

Earlier in the day, one of the three accused came face-to-face with one of the accusers in a Spanish court room.

The unnamed Leicester City player took part in a "careo", or face-to-face meeting, before a judge in order to form an impression of who was telling the truth.

Dickov, Sinclair and Gillespie have been accused of attacking three African women in a room at the five-star Hyatt Regency Hotel in the resort of La Manga. They deny the allegations.

Luis Ruiperez, who represents the soccer stars, said one of them had appeared before Judge Jacinto Areste to argue for his version of events against one of the women - but refused to say which of the players it was.

He said the "careo" was an opportunity for each party to confront each other with their own testimony and for the judge to reach a decision as to who had presented their argument with the most "clarity, serenity and balance".

Yesterday morning the players arrived at the courtroom in Cartagena after spending a sixth night in Sangonera prison near Murcia.

The judge spent the day taking statements from a number of witnesses thought to include hotel staff and guests and taxi drivers.

It was not until after that that proceedings moved on to take evidence from the three accusers and three accused.

One of the witnesses seen by the judge was Leicester City player Steffen Freund, who was last week one of the nine arrested in Spain but later released free of all charges.

Freund was driven away from the court after giving evidence, and was heading back to England to prepare for Saturday's match.