Lionel Messi and dad pay Spanish authorities $6.6 million in tax case

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has had to deal with issues relating to tax payments recently.

Four-time world soccer player of the year Lionel Messi and his father have paid Spanish authorities $6.6 million after allegedly committing tax fraud between 2007 and 2009.

The "reparatory" payment was made on August 14 and includes interest, the High Court said in a statement sent to CNN. It covers the period between 2007 and 2009, Spanish media reported.

The move comes more than two months after Messi paid $13 millionin taxes to cover the tax period of 2010-2011.

Messi is due to appear in court on September 17 but one of his lawyers is requesting to "suspend" the date of his testimony, according to the statement.

A decision is expected within two days.

When it went public that he was under investigation, Messi said on his Facebook page that he had done nothing wrong.

"We are surprised about the news, because we have never committed any infringement," he said in June. "We have always fulfilled all our tax obligations, following the advice of our tax consultants, who will take care of clarifying this situation."

The off-field issues haven't affected the Argentine international's performances for Barcelona.

He scored all three goals for Barcelona in its 3-2 win at Valencia on Sunday and has netted five league goals in his two games.