Messi and his father have been accused of defrauding the Spanish state of more than €4m (£3.13m) between 2007 and 2009, by using a series of shell companies to allegedly evade tax due on the income from the football star’s image rights.  

Earlier this year Spain's public prosecutor argued that Messi's father Jorge, who acts as the player’s representative and manages all of his financial affairs, was responsible for the decision to use companies in Belize and Uruguay to sell the rights to use Messi's image, thereby circumventing requirements to pay tax in Spain.

 However, a court in Barcelona has now rejected this appeal and has said that Lionel Messi should stand trial on the charges of alleged tax evasion.

The judge in the case said: ‘In this type of crime, it is not necessary for someone to have complete knowledge of all the accounting and business operations nor the exact quantity, rather it is sufficient to be aware of the designs to commit fraud and consent to them'.

Messi and his father have five days to appeal against the latest ruling. Both have denied wrongdoing in the case, which relates to income generated via sponsorship deals with a number of multinational companies including Danone, Adidas, Pepsi and Procter & Gamble.

In August 2013 Messi and his father made a €5m (£3.9m) ‘corrective payment’, equal to the alleged unpaid tax plus interest.  Lionel Messi has previously stated that he and his father ‘have never committed any infringement. We have always fulfilled all our tax obligations’.