A SPANISH court said Friday it has exchanged a 21-month prison sentence handed to soccer megastar Lionel Messi for tax fraud in July 2016 for a quarter of 1 million euro (US$285,000) fine.

The Barcelona player and his father were found guilty by a Catalan court last year of three counts of tax fraud to the tune of 4.1 million euros over income earned from image rights.

The father also had his 15-month sentence exchanged for a fine of 180,000 euros, the court said.

Neither Messi nor his father would have served time in jail following the original ruling as defendants without a previous conviction are permitted to serve any sentence of under two years on probation.

Messi, who recently extended his contract with the Catalan club, is “the best paid player in the world,” Barca’s President Josep Maria Bartomeu said Friday.

The club announced last week that Messi had agreed to extend his contract until 2021, in a deal that will keep the five-time winner of the Ballon D’Or at the club until he is 34.

(SD-Agencies)