Barcelona star Lionel Messi with his father in court.
BY NT CORRESPONDENT.
Soccer enthusiasts will not see Barcelona star Lionel Messi doing his magical moves in the field for the next 21 months: He will be behind bars.
Messi has been jailed for one year and nine months alongside his father Jorge over three tax frauds.
Prosecutors said that Messi and his father defrauded Spanish tax authorities of 4.1m Euros (£3.5m) over the period 2007-2009.
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 (£1.7m) and his father to pay 1.5 million euros (£1.2m) for the crimes.
