Messi tells Spanish court: 'I knew nothing"

Appearing in court in Spain to give evidence over tax fraud charges, Barcelona and Argentina football star Lionel Messi told the court he had no involvement in the management of his financial affairs.

"I was playing football, I knew nothing," he said.

Messi and his father Jorge, who manages his finances, are accused of defrauding Spain of €4.1m. Both deny the charges.

The authorities allege that the two used tax havens in Belize and Uruguay to conceal earnings from image rights.

Messi sat alongside his father in front of the judge and listened to other testimony for nearly four hours before being called to testify in the third day of the trial.

Jorge Messi and his son Lionel's tax fraud court case is expected to end Thursday

Messi, 28, said he signed documents without reading them because he trusted his father and the advisers responsible for managing his finances.

"I only worried about playing football," he told the judge.

Spain's tax agency is demanding heavy fines and prison sentences. The trial began on Tuesday, and Thursday is expected to be the final day. A verdict is not expected until next week.

Because of the trial, Messi has missed part of his national team's preparations for the Copa America, which starts on Friday in the US. Argentina's first game is on Monday 6 June.

Messi is accused of hiding income derived from contracts with Banco Sabadell, Danone, Adidas, Pepsi-Cola, Procter and Gamble, and the Kuwait Food Company.

Messi's lawyers had argued that the player had "never devoted a minute of his life to reading, studying or analysing" the contracts.

But in 2015, the high court in Barcelona ruled that the football star should not be granted immunity for not knowing what was happening with his finances, which were being managed in part by his father.

The two made a voluntary €5m “corrective payment” - equal to the alleged unpaid tax plus interest - in August 2013.

The footballer is the five-time World Player of the Year and one of the richest athletes in the world.