Considering its the Spanish justice system this will probably be dealt with at local level and the problem will disappear faster than you can say "blood bags".
Neymar
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Yeah, still shocked by that decision
Me too, shocking to see such open corruption, but this kind of thing has been going on under the surface of Spanish sport for quite sometime particularly where football is concerned.
I still think he's kicked out of games too easily at this point. Atletico roughed him up every time he got the ball for the first 10 minutes and he barely did anything of note after.
Well FCBarca (the poster) thinks it's a Real Madrid sponsored government conspiracy to damage Barca's image.
There are a lot of high profile tax/corruption/fiscal fraud cases underway in Spain. One of the King's grandkids is charged with money-laundering for example. Like most fraud cases they are immense paper chases that take a lot of man hours to resolve and then rely on Judges, who may not necessarily be international tax law specialists to rule on the legality (evasion vs avoidance) of the deal.
Often, they end with a deal between the tax office and the accused, to avoid the costs/risks of further investigation and the court case. This is what people expect to happen in the Messi tax fraud case for example.
When they do get to trial? Well, Del Nido finally got a 7 year prison sentence last month for his role (as bent lawyer) in the Malaga Townhall corruption case for example, offences from a decade ago.
So the Neymar deal then. Spoilered because it's a long story:
What Barcelona say: They paid €57m for Neymar.
What we know: About 17m went to Santos, who shared it as the official purchase price with the other rights holders, like the supermarket chain mentioned.
What is suspected: The 57m was shared, 17m to Santos, 40m to Neymar (his dad or his company). That a deal with Santos for "first option" on some of their young players, was really part of the Neymar deal and was paid like that to give Santos more without them needing to share it. That one of Neymar's agents became a Barcelona employee in Brazil to allow Barca to pay agents fees without it appearing in the Neymar 57m.
The legal position: Under Spanish law where a structure is deemed to be an artificial way of managing a transaction, eg: to avoid taxation, then they can simply look at the end result of the deal - who really got the money in the end and ignore the layers in the middle.
Illegal or simply creative accounting? The fact is Barcelona may have acted completely legally. The payments almost certainly went to legal entities and were invoiced/receipted/recorded.
Problems (over-simplified!): The 40m to Neymar as a signing on fee may be part of the transfer fee, in which case the third party owners want their slice. The same goes for the extra payment to Santos. Both of those issues are for the Brazilian legal system, not really the Spanish one.
If it's not a signing on fee, then it may be an advance on wages. Possibly subject to Spanish tax depending on where the money went after it went to N&N. Something for the Brazilian/Spanish tax offices to argue over.
The 40m is viewed as wages (paid at a very favourable rate of tax) by Barca's players, most importantly by Messi. It means that instead of Neymar being paid similar money to Xavi, Iniesta etc he's being paid more than Messi.
What we know: About 17m went to Santos, who shared it as the official purchase price with the other rights holders, like the supermarket chain mentioned.
What is suspected: The 57m was shared, 17m to Santos, 40m to Neymar (his dad or his company). That a deal with Santos for "first option" on some of their young players, was really part of the Neymar deal and was paid like that to give Santos more without them needing to share it. That one of Neymar's agents became a Barcelona employee in Brazil to allow Barca to pay agents fees without it appearing in the Neymar 57m.
The legal position: Under Spanish law where a structure is deemed to be an artificial way of managing a transaction, eg: to avoid taxation, then they can simply look at the end result of the deal - who really got the money in the end and ignore the layers in the middle.
Illegal or simply creative accounting? The fact is Barcelona may have acted completely legally. The payments almost certainly went to legal entities and were invoiced/receipted/recorded.
Problems (over-simplified!): The 40m to Neymar as a signing on fee may be part of the transfer fee, in which case the third party owners want their slice. The same goes for the extra payment to Santos. Both of those issues are for the Brazilian legal system, not really the Spanish one.
If it's not a signing on fee, then it may be an advance on wages. Possibly subject to Spanish tax depending on where the money went after it went to N&N. Something for the Brazilian/Spanish tax offices to argue over.
The 40m is viewed as wages (paid at a very favourable rate of tax) by Barca's players, most importantly by Messi. It means that instead of Neymar being paid similar money to Xavi, Iniesta etc he's being paid more than Messi.
Is it illegal though? Rosell is a lawyer, so are most of his sidekicks. I doubt they'd have made a mistake that leaves them exposed under Spanish law. Will Brazilian courts want to upset Neymar in WC year? I doubt that as well.
Don't like him myself and consider him a huge wanker, but fair play to him there.
This kid is great 
fecking assholes who wanted to kick him out
fecking assholes who wanted to kick him outLooks like Wenger's already sent scouts after the little one:
What a brillaint photo.
Any reason in particular? I think all of his 'antics' have been light hearted and humorous myself.
Also, any idea what's strapped to David Luiz's leg at 0:42?!
Great moment for the kid
the one on the far left rubbing his pubic hair looks like our kleberson!
All those acting antics to be fair, the diving and overreacting part, just don't like the guy.
I suppose it's ice strapped to his muscle, at first I thought it was his dong and thought he's going through tough times
Looks like Wenger's already sent scouts after the little one:
This "Arsenal scout" is a cnut, he's the one who most vehemently wanted to get the kid.
Possibly his best game since signing. Agree @FCBarca ?
he was pretty poor other then the goal.
he kept dribbling past players, getting all those fouls, making a lot of openings on the left wing, plus the goal of course
Messi is the one who more or less disappeared tonight.
Not even by a longshot. I thought he was very average tbh but that was largely due to playing out of position for 70 odd minutes. I think he had 7 successful dribbles along with the great goal but gave away many too.
And the diving has returned to his game
As for Messi, he only seemed to disappear because Cesc is a lousy option for helping create space against a parked bus - Leo was marked out by no less than 3 or 4 central players for the majority of the match
yeah, he still produced moments, he was just isolated up front. poor movement or whatever, but when he got on the ball he made things happen.
It wasn't a brilliant game from him, I'm talking relatively. In which game did he play better than this? i can't recall one.
Wasn't he quite good against Celtic and then against Milan at the San Siro?
Did you even watch the game? Was there a player in both QFs (other than Iniesta) who played better than Neymar?
Some people I think have unrealistic expectations of what a player can deliver against teams with purely negative tactics from start to finish. Or have bizarre agendas.
Can't blame Cesc for everything. Messi was definitely crowded out for most of the game by ferocious Atletico pressure, but was still a bit sluggish. Was surely outshone by both Iniesta and Neymar, no shame in acknowledging the fact.
The Barca players who were indeed average, were Cesc (played yet again out of position) Xavi (what does he really do for Barca right now?) and Messi who was almost marked completely out of the game.
He was quite good in several games before Xmas. But last night was his best game yet in a Barca shirt, caused tons of troubles for Atletico defenders who could only stop him with fouls at times.
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First half of the season, take your pick really - Valencia, Sevilla, Rayo, Sociedad. There were many impressive performances, even against Celtic
Last night, he was a force to reckon with when he was played in his best position - left wing. Prior to that, he was largely anonymous but that's the beauty of a talent like Neymar - he still influenced the match in those final 20 minutes. Throw in his unpredictability and he provides a significant weapon from the left wing against an organized bus like that of Atletico. I hope we'll see the attacking trident of Neymar-Leo-Alexis at the Calderon in the return leg - else Barcelona will be crashing out
I didn't blame Cesc for everything, he wasn't even poor but not impacting the match in a squad where there were impressive performances across the park, Fabregas did little to impact the match. But most importantly, he did nothing to create any space in that midfield or blocks of 4 that Atletico put up against Barcelona, again.
This is the issue/problem with Fabregas, square peg round hole. Case in point, the minute he was subbed out and Iniesta slotted back into midfield they not only score but created a number of excellent scoring chances
Cesc and Dani were not good enough on the night but the winner for least impressive performance goes to the one subbed out first - Fabregas. When I read people rubbishing Messi, especially in a match like this one, I realize many people really don't know how to rate a performance or what to look for apart from the statistics
1. I agree that Cesc tends to be ineffectual when fielded alongside Xavi. This was well understood to be a potential since before Cesc's arrival. People said there would have to be increased rotation between the trio of Xavi-Cesc-Iniesta, especially considering Xavi's age, and Iniesta's injruy troubles, now thankfully much more rare. The case this season is that with all three of them on the pitch we still somehow came out on top in 4 tough games, the 2 Clasicos and the two Man City games. This is what led Tata in fielding all 3 of them last night. Now, thankfully, everyone has seen that we are better off in a more natural 4-3-3 and that would be the way to go at the Calderon next Wednesday.
2. Alves was also ineffective last night as were his crosses, and why do we keep making those crosses or taking direct corners and free-kicks into the area is beyond me. Our vertically challenged players can never score in such a manner. We are merely taking pressure off the opposition every time we send high balls into the rival's area.
3. Xavi. As much as I love him for his legendary contributions through the years, age is fast catching up with him. He can no longer drive the team forward or provide the killer passes that he used to. He is also a defensive liability for the most part. We must fast accept the fact that his career at the top of the game is ending. We either pass the baton to the much younger Cesc and adjust our game accordingly, or we well Cesc in the summer and go for a CM that can take over for us. But who would it be? Vidal? Or the ailing Gundogan? I think we are better off with Cesc.
Delicious.
Our best player on the night. The worse? Clearly Messi.
Agree that Neymar was Barcelona's best player, although that's not a ringing endorsement.
Messi was poor yeah but no more so than any other player really. Plus Martino's post-match quote on Messi is really, really strange and at least partly explains the Messi performance ("We weren't that interested in Messi being participative, we wanted him to find 1 v 1s on the right").
I disagree. Messi was particularly bad tonight. And that is not even considering the fact that most people consider him to be the best on the planet. His performance would have been atrocious even if he were Pedro or Ashley Young. But when he is Messi, I hope you get the sense of how bad he was tonight. Tata is only making poor excuses at the moment.
I know, there's no way I'd say Messi was anything other than poor tonight. I don't think he looked that interested either, but Martino's tactics were poor so it's not a massive surprise, and I really don't think he was worse than many Barcelona players.
Oh no he was by far the worse Barcelona player tonight. By a very long shot at that! Everyone else tried according to their abilities. Alba, Alves and Neymar were quite good actually. Xavi tried as well. Iniesta underperformed, while Messi was completely invisible, according to UEFA, he run a mere 6.8km tonight, which was just 1.5km more than goalkeeper Pinto. So yes, this was Messi's worst performance for Barcelona in his entire career. Trust me, I have been watching him and Barca for ages now.
Messi's not very good against Simeone's Atletico. Same way he's generally poor against Chelsea.
Effortless nutmeg. Delicious.
I've watched Messi his whole career, you don't need to convince me he was poor. Why play him on the right though?
Anyway, back to Neymar. Looked a lot better back on the left tonight but I don't think he was spectacular, wasn't overly involved in the game and I don't think Martino's emphasis on crossing tonight helped him or indeed any other player.
No relation to any of the games you have in mind tonight. Messi was absolutely invisible tonight. In other games against Chelsea or Atletico he had some excellent moves and assists despite not scoring. Tonight all he did was miss two good chances, give two passes that were easily intercepted and have one really poor free-kick.
Tonight was not about being played on the right or middle or at right back. Tonight the issue was that Messi was not even there, neither the right, nor anywhere else.
As for Neymar, I did not say he was spectacular, he was the best of a relatively bad bunch. He had at least 3 or 4 good moves in the game.
Neymar was easily the best in Barcelona, which says nothing this day though as they were notoriously poor. I liked the idea of putting Messi out wide but the real issue with that decision was Fabregas centrally. What in the worlds name did he provide through-out the game? Nothing. He makes entire Barcelona worse when he plays in the midfield and as a false-9 he somehow manages to help the team even less. He just doesn't fit in to the Barcelona possession style.
Not sure why Barcelona has quit using the high-press, it looks like they just use a high line and high possession tactics these days. The high press is what made Barcelona so successful before not only the high possession style. Neymar and Messi were clearly instructed not to press, which is crazy considering they are both capable of it.
Neymar has put in outstanding performances in the high-press defensively for Brazil which is the reason they've looked back on track lately.
Not sure why Barcelona has quit using the high-press, it looks like they just use a high line and high possession tactics these days. The high press is what made Barcelona so successful before not only the high possession style. Neymar and Messi were clearly instructed not to press, which is crazy considering they are both capable of it.
Neymar has put in outstanding performances in the high-press defensively for Brazil which is the reason they've looked back on track lately.
Messi could not get his ass moving even in attacking sense tonight, how he would have pressed the opposition is beyond me at this stage. And blaming Cesc for Barcelona's problems is now passe. I would favour him to be in the Xavi position, and us playing a more direct game with a couple more physical players added to the team.
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