A court in Spain on Wednesday sentenced Barcelona's star striker Lionel Messi and his father to 21 months in jail for tax fraud and slapped them with a fine of $4.1 million.

But these prison sentences are likely to be suspended as is common in Spain for first offenses for nonviolent crimes carrying a term of less than two years.

The Barcelona court found the Argentina international and his father Jorge Horacio Messi guilty of using companies in Belize, Britain, Switzerland and Uruguay to avoid paying taxes on 4.16 million euros of Messi's income earned from his image rights from 2007-09.