His father, Jorge Messi, was also given a jail term for defrauding Spain of €4.1 million (£3.5 million; $4.5 million) between 2007 and 2009
Browsing: Lionel Messi
The Barcelona superstar left the field in tears after missing a spot-kick in the Copa America Centenario final shootout against Chile on Sunday
Messi has not won a major international honour apart from a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics
Messi blazed a penalty over the bar in the shootout before Lucas Biglia missed, to leave Chile’s Francisco Silva with the task of stroking home the winning spot-kick at the MetLife Stadium in the United States of America
Trouble started when a Ronaldo supporter identified as Marshal celebrated widely as the Real Madrid star’s shot was parried into Quaresma’s path for the goal to the consternation of a Messi’s supporter, simply identified as Obinna
Many of those in the 70,858 crowd in Houston had come to witness the Barcelona star etch his name in the history books and he did not disappoint, curling a sensational free kick past Brad Guzan after 32 minutes to put Argentina 2-0 ahead on Wednesday.
It is alleged that Messi and his father Jorge avoided paying over €4.1 million (£3 million, $4.5 million) in tax on the Barcelona star’s earnings by using offshore companies in Belize and Uruguay between 2007 and 2009
Sky Sports reported that Messi and his father, Jorge Horacio Messi, will respond to accusations that they have used a chain of fake companies in Belize and Uruguay to avoid paying taxes on £3.2 million of the footballer’s income earned through the sale of his image rights from 2007 to 2009
The Nigerian whizkid scored a double against Stoke in last weekend’s 4-0 win, which momentarily sent him to the top of the goals-per-minute charts, above Barcelona ace Luis Suarez and Madrid galactico Cristiano Ronaldo
The Argentine had gone more than 500 minutes without registering a goal or assist for Barcelona before netting against Los Che – his longest such drought since becoming a regular starter for the club in 2008
Messi and his father Jorge have been charged with tax fraud for allegedly failing to declare 4.16 million euros ($4.74 million) in taxes related to his image rights between 2007 and 2009 through front companies in Belize and Uruguay
Real Madrid have also not won a league match at Camp Nou since April 2012 and Los Blancos will have revenge on their mind having taken a 4-0 thumping in the reverse clash at the Bernabeu earlier this season
Obama, who spoke during a visit to Argentina, has claimed that his two teenage daughters Malia and Sasha are fans of the Barcelona forward and have the 28-year-old in their sights
Barcelona’s first clear opportunity came in the 17th minute when Neymar found Messi with a stunning pass, but the Argentine could not beat Ospina from close range, before Jeremy Mathieu headed over from the resulting corner
The killing of Durumchukwu by Chukwuma followed a heated argument over whether Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo is the world’s best footballer
The first-half chance of the match arrived in the eighth minute when Mesut Ozil found Aaron Ramsey inside the Barcelona box, but Javier Mascherano was on hand to make the block
The match was played in London
Valencia were three goals down inside 29 minutes and were forced to play the entirety of the second period with 10 players when Shkodran Mustafi was given the marching orders for a challenge on Messi inside the penalty box
Atletico then went down to nine in 65th minute when Diego Godin picked up a second yellow, allowing Barcelona, who are now unbeaten in 26 matches in all competitions, to close out the match for all three points
Messi, 28, had finished behind long-time rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, in both 2013 and 2014, but was a clear winner of FIFA’s top individual honour for a fifth time in his career