“Ronaldo’s tax offences could be much worse than Messi’s”

Cristiano Ronaldo appeared before a judge today in order to make a statement about his alleged tax offences. Spanish tax officials believe that there are “suggestions that Ronaldo’s alleged tax offences could amount to three times those of Lionel Messi”.

After an hour and a half of statements, Ronaldo once again left the coutroom by the back door thus avoiding the gathered press who had prepared a position from which the Portuguese could make a statement.

It appears that Ronaldo’s legal team informed the Real Madrid forward that it would be best not to make a statement to the press from outside the courtroom, after Ronaldo had spent the session looking nervous, tense and uncomfortable.

An official press release form Ronaldo’s representatives ‘Gestifute’ came to light at around 3PM on Monday in which the 32-year-old insisted that he had “never” hidden anything: “I did not intend to evade tax,” it read.

However, officials from the Spanish tax office also released a statement in which they asserted that Ronaldo’s alleged tax offences could be “quite a lot worse than those committed by Lionel Messi”.

The Real Madrid man is accused of four counts of tax fraud committed between 2011 and 2014, amounting to a total of €14.7m. Messi was found guilty of similar offences to the value of €4.1m between 2007 and 2009.

Ronaldo could faces a minimum sentence of seven years in prison, though the judge could half that time and even half it again, should the Portuguese agree to a deal. For now, the Spanish tax office maintains that Ronaldo’s tax fraud amounts to “three times that of Lionel Messi”.