BREAKING NEWS - Lionel Messi And Dad Sentenced To 21 Months Inprisonment For Tax Fraud In Spain

Argentina and Barcelona SuperStar Footballer Lionel Messi has been sentenced to 21 months in prison for tax fraud, after a court in Barcelona found him guilty for three counts of tax fraud, a statement from the court said today Wednesday.

The forward, who recently announced his retirement from the Argentina national team, has also been fined six weeks' wages worth £1.7 million, was accused of creating a number of fake companies in Belize and Uruguay to avoid taxation on his lucrative image rights. Messi claimed he never suspected any wrongdoing about his financial affairs, but a court has found both he and his father guilty in the crime.

Lionel Messi, one of the world's highest-paid footballers, was tried alongside his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, for deceiving Spain's tax authority of 4.1m euros (£3.19m) between 2007 and 2009. The court sentenced the Argentine football player's father, Jorge, to 21 months in prison for the same three crimes. The sentence can be appealed through the Spanish supreme court, the statement said.

However, under Spanish law a prison sentence under two years can be served under probation, meaning Messi and his father are unlikely to go to jail. The court ordered Messi to pay a fine of around 2 million euros ($2.21 million) and his father to pay 1.5 million euros for the crimes.