Javier Mascherano has been sentenced to a year in prison and fined €815,000 (£625,000) for two tax offences.
However, the star will likely not 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 required to serve their sentence, unless they are being punished for violent crime.
Mascherano, 31, was given four-month and eight-month sentences for the two offences which took place in 2011 and 2012.
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.
Source: Daily Mail
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