Marcelo accused of half a million tax fraud

Madrid - Spanish prosecutors have accused Real Madrid's Brazilian left-back Marcelo of tax fraud totalling nearly half a million euros, a judicial source confirmed on Tuesday.

The tax authorities believe Marcelo hid €490 917 earned from his image rights using a network of shell companies outside of Spain.

According to court documents, Marcelo earned €1 168 764 from his image rights in 2013, which were ceded to a Uruguayan company but should have been declared to the Spanish authorities.

Marcelo is just the latest in a series of star players based in Spain to be accused of tax fraud on income related to image rights in the past few years.

Real Madrid's all-time leading scorer Cristiano Ronaldo appeared in court in July over accusations he evaded €14.7 million worth of tax between 2011 and 2014.

Barcelona duo Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano received 21-month and one-year suspended sentences respectively after being found guilty of tax fraud over their image rights in 2016.

However, five-time World Player of the Year Messi's sentence was later replaced by a €252 000 fine.