Real Madrid forward Cristiano Ronaldo is in the best phase of his footballing career as he managed to win back to back Champions League titles with Los Blancos and also the 2016 Euros with Portugal last summer.
However, the 32-year old had hit the headlines for wrong reasons earlier this week as he was accused of defrauding 14.7 million euros from Spanish tax authorities between 2011 and 2014.
Ronaldo will be participating in the Confederations Cup later this month in Russia as Portugal plays in the tournament as European champions and Portuguese media believes that his off the field issues should not distract his game on the field.
“We are sure that, despite the scandal, he is more focussed than ever on breaking records and on securing a title for Portugal,” Ricardo Nuno Rampazzo, from A Bola TV, said of the matter.
Another journalist Paulo Jose from Sport TV has also echoed similar feeling as Ronaldo was seen relatively calm preparing for the big international tournament.
“The player is relaxed and isn’t worried about the situation,” said Sport TV’s Paulo Jose.
“From the way he’s training, it doesn’t seem as if it will affect him on the pitch.”
Despite certain media reports suggesting that the legal battle with Spanish tax authorities is not troubling Ronaldo, few others suggest that the case might not turn out to be too serious as there has been plenty of tax fraud cases in Spain in the recent years.
“In Portugal, we think there will be probably be a peaceful solution [to the tax issues], such as an settlement,” Manuel Jose da Silva, from RTP, commented.
“We’ll see what happens, but many think it will be solved before long and that Ronaldo can be completely focussed on the national team.”
Barcelona players Lionel Messi and Neymar were also accused of tax fraud by Spanish authorities earlier and Messi was even given an imprisonment of 21 months along with fine. However, the numbers in tax fraud of Ronaldo is way higher and as per the existing law, he could receive an imprisonment between 1 to 5 years if proved guilty. He might also be fined another 28 million euros for the wrong doing if he really failed to pay his taxes.