No one comes out of this looking very good.
El Mundo report that authorities in both American and Spanish have found evidence of tax fraud and possible drug cartel involvement in two friendly games organised by the Lionel Messi Foundation.
The matches – featuring the mercurial Argentine and a number of his footballing friends – took place in Colombia in 2012 and 2013.
It is alleged that the games were funded by a Mexican drug cartel, and that they were a front for a money laundering scheme involving the profits of drug trafficking.
The games were meant to be organised to raise money for impoverished children around the world.
It is unclear whether either Lionel Messi or his father Jorge are suspected of any knowledge of the alleged impropriety.
