Barcelona’s Javier Mascherano Gets One Year Behind Bars

Argentine star signed to Barcelona Javier Mascherano has been sentenced to a year in prison and fined €815,000 (£625,000) for two tax offences.

The former Liverpool player however is not likely to be spending a year behind bars, as his lawyer David Aineto has requested the prison sentence to be substituted for a fine.

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

The Barcelona and Argentina defender who also handles a midfielder role was handed a one-year prison sentence, which will not be applied.

Although Mascherano paid the amount with interest last year, he has to pay a fine of £625,000.

He was given four-month and eight-month sentences for the two offences which took place in 2011 and 2012.

Javier has already repaid the full €1.6million (£1.15million) debt owed to the tax authorities before he was given his punishment.