Lionel Messi: Barcelona ace loses appeal over 21-month jail sentence

Lionel Messi has been sentenced to 21 months in prison, but is unlikely to face any jail time.

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi and his father Jorge have lost their appeal to Spain's Supreme Court against a 21-month prison sentence for tax fraud

However, as Spanish law denotes that an sentence under two years can be served as probation, Messi is unlikely to spend any time in jail.

The 29-year-old, five-times world player of the year, was found guilty by a Barcelona court last July on three counts of tax fraud between 2007 and 2009, resulting in a suspended 21-month prison sentence and fine of €2million (£1.75m).

Messi's father Jorge was given the same sentence and ordered to pay a fine of €1.5m (£1.3m).

While the appeal was rejected, Jorge Messis's sentence was reduced from 21 months to 15 months after his son returned the money due to the tax man. 

Spanish law is such that any sentence under two years for a non-violent crime rarely requires a defendant without previous convictions to serve jail time.

Messi, 29, and his father defrauded the Spanish tax office of almost €4.2m (£3.6m) from 2007-09 by using a web of shell companies to avoid taxes on income from the player's image rights.

Lionel Messi has been sentenced to 21 months in prison, but is unlikely to face any jail time. Read Full Story