Barcelona star Javier Mascherano has been sentenced to a year in prison over £1.15m tax fraud and has also been fined £625,000.

However the Argentine is not likely to be spending a year behind bar with reports that his lawyer David Aineto has requested the prison sentence to be substituted for a fine instead.

Accroding to the Daily Mail, the Barcelona man was given four-month and eight-month sentences for the two offences which took place in 2011 and 2012.

In Spain people handed sentences of less than two years are not obligated to serve their sentence, unless they are being punished for violent crime.

The Argentine star had already repaid the full €1.6million (£1.15million) debt owed to the tax authorities before he was given his punishment.

Mascherano also paid the interest on the money, but has still been hit with a new fine.
His tax offences were for failing to declare earnings from image rights he ceded to companies which he owns in Portugal and the United States.

Barcelona football club is yet to issue an official statement with regards to the court ruling

A crossection of Barcelona fans are accusing their rivals Real madrid for the Barcelona star’s woes with several going into social media to condemn the act.

Austin Oduor

talking African football