Lionel Messi Tax Saga an Obstacle for Barcelona to Navigate Past in 2015-16

Last week, as Barcelona's clash with Juventus in the 2015 Champions League final in Berlin approached, Lionel Messi sat down for a rare interview, opening up to, among other things, his path back to European football's showpiece event from the turbulent season of 2013-14. 

Appearing comfortable and relaxed, the Argentinian spoke candidly of the difficulties of the previous campaign, one disrupted by injury and off-field issues and one in which Barcelona went trophyless as a pair of rivals in Madrid excelled. 

Just two weeks earlier, Messi had put an end to that (short) barren run of Barcelona's, clinching the Primera Division title with a goal at the Vicente Calderon against Atletico Madrid. It was a goal that came from a pause, a one-two and an extraordinary side-step—all so subtle, but all so devastating. It was vintage Messi. 

Seven days later, the 27-year-old sunk Athletic Bilbao in the Copa del Rey final with two more strikes, the first of which boggled the mind, gripped the eyes and left the mouth salivating like a St. Bernard's stuck in a hothouse.

Manu Fernandez/Associated Press/Associated Press

"Messi is an alien that dedicates himself to playing with humans," said Gianluigi Buffon in the days that followed. In the space of a week, the Barca star had begun putting glittering finishing touches on a staggering campaign. In fact, they were more than finishing touches; they were exclamation points. And as the European final approached he had just one more act to complete, his comfort and relaxed demeanour stemming from those successes perfectly clear as he spoke to UEFA's website prior to the Champions League final about the difficulties of the previous season.  

"Perhaps over last year [2013-14] the season hasn't been good for me, because of several situations on and off the pitch," Messi told UEFA, per Sky Sports. "Whether you like it or not, this always has an influence on your performance on the pitch.

"I [also] suffered an injury and it took me a while to get back and do what I wanted to do. So a few things weren't so good."

The comments were honest and refreshing, explaining that, even for the world's finest, separating what happens on the pitch from what happens off it can be problematic. 

For Messi, the off-field distractions in 2013-14 had come in the form of accusations of tax fraud—a saga that reached its height in September 2013 when the Argentinian and his father, Jorge Messi, were questioned in court in Gava over charges of tax evasion amounting to more than €4 million.

A month earlier, according to the Guardian, Messi and his father "paid back €5 million to the Spanish state," consisting of "money owed for the alleged avoidance of tax and interest accrued on it" and paid a further "€10 million in back taxes owed for 2010-2011."

Paco Serinelli/Associated Press/Associated Press

Messi has since spoken of wanting to "to forget what I experienced," but this week, his high-profile tax saga has returned to dominate news again.  

On Wednesday, the Barcelona Provincial High Court rejected an appeal made by the star forward's lawyers which aimed to prevent Messi from standing trial over the charges. The court "believes there is evidence that the Argentinian forward 'benefited' from a network of companies that allowed him to defraud the Spanish Tax Agency of €4.1 million in income tax," wrote El Pais. 

According to the Guardian, "the authorities have accused Messi's father, Jorge Horacio Messi, of selling the footballer's image rights using shell companies in Uruguay, Belize, Switzerland and the UK to avoid reporting earnings in Spain." The charges relate to the tax years of 2007, 2008 and 2009. 

Messi's father has previously stated that his son had no knowledge of the scheme, and on Wednesday, the defence argued the Barcelona star "never devoted a minute of his life to reading, studying or analysing" contracts relating to such matters. 

El Pais added: 

"

But the judges responded that Messi ratified the contracts once he turned 18 and his name appeared as the sole administrator of one of the companies.

Although the state attorney had been in favor of exonerating the player, the Tax Agency insisted that he should be prosecuted.

The court argued that lack of knowledge of the financial network in place should not mean impunity for someone who benefits from a structure that assists fraud, even if it has been designed and organized by others.

"

Emilio Morenatti/Associated Press/Associated Press

If the 2014-15 season ended in unbridled euphoria for Barcelona, the off-season has quickly taken a negative turn. Once again, the club's biggest star is embroiled in the highly publicised off-field controversy he admitted affected his difficult campaign of a season ago.

Currently, it's unclear as to how long this saga will rumble on, with the Barcelona Provincial High Court yet to set a date for the looming trial. But, even if he were to eventually be proven innocent, what that means for Messi is a period of questions, conjecture and scrutiny with no identifiable end date, souring a summer that he'd entered in emphatic fashion with the capture of a historic treble. 

For Barcelona, it could prove troublesome if it spills into the 2015-16 season. 

Messi's game, aside from its phenomenal technical quality, has always been defined by its verve, its effervescence. He's at his best when he's smiling; he's at his most lethal when he's happy. Success has come in the long periods in which his joy for simply playing has been obvious.

But, as he confessed in his recent interview, peripheral issues have coincided with less-than-stellar periods on the pitch—"whether you like it or not, this always has an influence on your performance," was Messi's message. 

Unless resolved quickly, this off-field storm will need careful navigation from Barcelona.