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The Madrid city government said Monday it will pursue Real Madrid for 18.4 million euros ($20.6 million) in illegal state aid that the European Commission ordered theclub to repay.Real, Spanish champions Barcelona and other clubs were found to have received an "unfair advantage" by the commission in July due to tax breaks and overpriced land deals."
The city hall will establish the measures necessary to carry out the decision of the European Commission to recover the aid of 18.4 million euros granted to Real Madrid," the local government said in a statement.
"At the start of September a two-month period given by Brussels to the city hall to present to the commission the total amount (total owed plus interest) to be recouped, a description of the measures adopted and the documents that show the club has been ordered to reimburse the aid will expire."
The club agreed to sell a plot of land to Madrid's government in 1998, a transaction that eventually was not completed. As compensation for failure to complete the deal, Real received 22.7 million euros from the state in 2011. The value of the land at the time of the initial agreement in 1998 was just 595,000 euros.
The commission's investigation showed that Real Madrid were entitled to compensation of just 4.3 million euros, therefore obtaining an advantage of 18.4 million. The club have already signalled their intention to appeal the Commission's ruling to the European Court of Justice.
Argentina football legend Diego Maradona believes Lionel Messi will not reverse his decision to quit the national team due to the "weak leadership" of the Argentine Football Federation (AFA).
The five-time Ballon D'Or winner announced his retirement from international duty in June after missing from the spot in Argentina's penalty shoot-out defeat to Chile in the Copa America Centenario, La Albiceleste's third major final defeat in as many years.
Former Sao Paulo manager Edgardo Bauza, who replaced Gerardo Martino at the helm earlier this month, travelled to Spain on Wednesday to discuss Messi's future but Maradona believes the Barcelona forward will not go back on his decision.
"I think Messi is going to say no to Bauza. This is my thinking. Maybe I'm wrong," Maradona told Radio LaRed.
Messi's shock announcement came just days after he described the AFA as a "disaster" on his official Instagram account after theteam's flight to New Jersey for the Copa final was delayed.
And Maradona believes the latest dispute, coupled with Argentina winning just three of their opening six qualifiers for the 2018 World Cup, reflects the extent of the problems within the governing body.
"We are very bad. We run the risk ofnot going to Qatar," the 1986 World Cup winning captain said.
"I've never seen such weak leadership."What happened with Messi exposes what's been going on for a lifetime. How is it that the families of the [AFA] leaders are more comfortable than the players?
"Maradona announced he was seeking an audit of the AFA last month, describing the governing body as a 'mafia'.
Argentina suffered a further blow on Wednesday, exiting the Olympic Games at the group stage following a 1-1 draw with Honduras.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic announced his arrival in English football with an 83rd-minute winner as
Manchester United edged Leicester City 2-1 at Wembley on Sunday to win the Community
Shield.
The former Paris Saint-Germain striker had had a quiet game, but he outjumped Wes Morgan to head home Antonio Valencia's cross to earn Jose Mourinho his first piece of silverware as United manager.
Leicester talisman Jamie Vardy had earlier punished an error by Marouane Fellaini to cancel out FA Cup match-winner Jesse Lingard's first- half solo goal for United, who claimed a record-
extending 21st Community Shield.
The pair were accused in 2013 of defrauding the taxman out of 4.16 million euros ($4.69 million) in taxes related to Messi's image rights between 2007 and 2009 through the creation of fake companies in Belize and Uruguay. It is alleged they ceded the player's image rights to the companies in order to avoid declaring money made from lucrative deals with sponsors in Spain.
No date has been set for the trial, which will take place in Vilanova i la Geltru, the town where the player lives 50 kilometres (30 miles) south of Barcelona.
Prosecutors had asked for the case against the four-time World Player of the Year to be dropped as they consider the alleged fraud was carried out by his father, who has managed his son's affairs since he was a child.
They asked for Jorge Messi to be handed an 18-month prison sentence and a fine of half the defrauded amount. However, lawyers acting on behalf of the tax authorities pleaded for the player also to be tried and for both defendants to face a seven-and-a-half month prison sentence for each individual charge, which could lead to an overall sentence of over 22 months.
In any case, both are unlikely to end up in jail as sentences of less than two years are normally suspended for first time offences in Spain. "There are rational signs that the criminality was committed by both accused parties," the judge said in the filing.
Trial and injury woe –
Both father and son at first denied the accusations and laid the blame on a former financial adviser.
However, Jorge Messi subsequently claimed he was in charge of his son's finances and pleaded for charges against the player to be dropped. Jorge Messi also made a corrective payment of five million euros in August 2013 to cover alleged unpaid taxes plus interest, which should mitigate any sentence.
Messi, 28, is the fourth richest sportsman in the world, according to Forbes magazine, which estimates he earns almost $74 million a year. He is widely expected to add a record fifth Ballon d'Or for the world's best player to his collection on January 11 after leading Barca to a treble of Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Rey titles last season.
However, the trial is just the latest blow for the Argentine, who will be out of action for another six weeks with knee ligament damage suffered in Barca's 2-1 win over Las Palmas on September 26. The injury has also forced him to miss the start of Argentina's World Cup qualifying campaign at home to Ecuador on Thursday. On the pitch Barca have struggled without their talisman as the Catalans squeezed past Las Palmas and Bayer Leverkusen 2-1 before losing 2-1 at Sevilla on Saturday.
Argentine football star Lionel Messi has added two-time dad to his long list of honors, after his girlfriend gave birth to a son, relatives announced. Mateo Messi was born Friday in Barcelona, the athlete's brother wrote on Twitter.
"Mateo has just been born, he is beautiful," Matias Messi wrote. "We're savoring this moment of happiness." Messi, 28, and longtime companion Antonella Roccuzzo are already parents toa toddler son, Thiago, who turns three later this year.
Considered among his sport's most prodigious talents, Messi last month was voted UEFA's best player in Europe for 2014-2015.
The Argentina star — who won the Champions League, Spain's La Liga and Spanish Cup with Barcelona — claimed the award for the second time.