#Breaking: Lionel Messi sentenced to jail for 21 months

Barcelona forward Lionel Messi has been sentenced to a 21-month jail term for tax evasion in Spain. The Argentine and his father were found guilty of three counts of tax fraud in a Wednesday, July 6 decision by the court in Barcelona, Spain.

Messi who’s the second highest earning athlete in the world was fined about €2m and his father €1.5m.

According to BBC, His father, Jorge Messi, was also given a jail term for defrauding Spain of €4.1m (£3.5m; $4.5m) between 2007 and 2009.

The good news for the Messi family is that under Spanish ruling system, prison terms under two years can be served under probation – so they’re not expected to serve time in jail.

Messi announced his retirement from international football last month after the 2016 Copa America final at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey.

On January 2016 in Zurich Switzerland, Messi defeated Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo and club mate Neymar to seal his 5th win as the world best footballer.