Lionel Messi, regarded as the world’s best soccer player, found himself in some legal trouble this morning in Spain.
The Argentinian forward was found guilty of tax evasion and sentenced to 21 months in prison, but the Barcelona star will serve no jail time. Messi and his father were convicted of evading over €4 million in taxes over a three-year span (2007-2009), but thanks to Spanish law–any sentence under 2 years can be served as probation–they’ll dodge being thrown behind bars.
Messi will, however, have to pay a €2 million fine, and his father will have to cough up €1.5 million. It’s been a tough couple of weeks for Messi, who missed the opening penalty kick of the Copa America overtime shootout to help Chile claim their second straight Copa title.
