Prosecutors in Barcelona say they are not against replacing football star Lionel Messi's 21-month jail sentence for tax fraud with a fine, a spokeswoman announced on Friday.
An appeal against the sentence was rejected by Spain's Supreme Court in May.
The judge in charge of the case will now make a decision bearing in mind the prosecutor's recommendations.
Messi, along with his father Jorge, was found guilty of defrauding Spain of €4.1m between 2007 and 2009.
The state prosecutor was not immediately available to comment today.
"I find it hard to imagine that this would have happened had there not been a similar problem with another player", he said, per Marca.
But just how many trophies has Messi lifted with Barcelona and Argentina?
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At 30-years of age, Lionel Messi is still going as strong as he started and keeps developing everyday.
Both have denied wrongdoing.
Gaggioli also stated that he was not convinced that Messi was a talented player until he watched him play.
The list of honours and milestones accomplished by the mercurial forward is endless, including a club record 507 goals, eight Spanish league titles, four Champions League titles and five Ballon d'Or awards.
According to Spanish news agency EFE, a public prosecutor in Barcelona ruled Messi will pay €252,000 euros ($281,000) instead of serving a 21-month sentence.
The maximum fine would be 255,500 euros ($285,164), Reuter's calculations showed, on top of a almost 2 million Euro fine handed down as part of last year's sentence.
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