Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi is the target of every opponent he faces but now, he finds himself up against one that may be impossible to out-manouver Spanish tax authorities.

They claim that Messi and his father have hidden millions of Euro's from taxes in the nation, charges Messi and his father deny. He addressed the situation on Wednesday saying he is optimistic the situation will be sorted out.

"I am very calm. I never take care of that myself and neither does my dad. We have our lawyers and our wealth managers to take care of that and we trust them and they will take care of this. The truth is that I don't have a clue about all this and that is why we have people taking care of it." Lionel Messi said.

The Argentine World Player of the Year and his father, Jorge, have been accused of tax fraud by Spanish authorities who allege the pair hid more than four million euros by filing false tax returns for the years 2006 to 2009.

The prosecutor's office for tax crimes in Catalonia claim profits from the sale of Messi's image rights had been hidden via a complex web of shell companies across the globe.

Messi is one of the world's highest-paid athletes pulling in over 41 million dollars a year thanks to salary, bonuses and endorsements. Messi and his father Jorge have been ordered by a Spanish court to appear before a judge in September.

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