The 4-times FIFA footballer of the year and his father Jorge arrived in a Spanish court this morning Friday September 27th to answer charges of alleged tax fraud. Messi and his father are being accused of hiding over £3.4 million by filing incomplete tax returns from 2006 to 2009.
The charges against father and son was lodged by a state prosecutor in June 2013 claiming that they tried to conceal earnings from Messi's image rights - charges they both deny.
"I never take care of that (tax) stuff myself and neither does my father," Messi said in July. "We have our lawyers and our wealth managers to take care of that and we trust them and they will sort this out. The truth is I don’t have a clue about all this and that is why we have people taking care of it."
Messi has already paid the Spanish authorities the unpaid tax he's owing plus interest (he paid £4.2m) but because tax fraud is a serious offense in Spain, he still has to make an appearance in court where the courts will determine whether the case is pursued any further. Hopefully it will all end today!
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The Barcelona forward, Lionel Messi has superseded Marco van Basten and Johan Cruyff winning his fourth Ballon d'Or. He started 2009, 2010, 2011 and now in 2012. He finished 2012 on 91 goals in 69 games. Bow to the king! :-) Though a lot of people think Christiano Ronaldo should have won. What do you think?
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Argentina traveled to Saudi Arabia for Wednesday's friendly and the team's televised reception at the airport at first appeared to be a rather typical welcoming of a team that includes Leo Messi. But while his teammates made their way through the crowded terminal with relatively little trouble, Messi himself instantly had an armed entourage.
Near the end of the clip below (around 3:05), Messi's armed guards come up against a crush of people trying to get near him, which pushed one guard's assault rifle right up against Messi's shoulder. It's moments like this when Leo just has to detach from reality and go to Legoland in his mind. LOL
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Lionel Messi and girlfriend, Antonella Roccuzzo, gave birth to their first child today, and its a baby boy named ThiagoMessi. The current world best footballer wrote on his official Facebook page:
"Today, I am the happiest man in the world. My son was born, and I thank God for this gift! Thanks to my family for the support. A hug to everyone."
Congratulations Messi!
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