Shakira, footballer Gerard Pique separate

Colombian superstar Shakira and FC Barcelona defender Gerard Pique announced Saturday they were calling time on their relationship of more than a decade.

The 45-year-old "Hips don't Lie" songstress is one of the biggest names in the global music industry and has sold more than 60 million albums.

Spanish football hero Pique, 35, won the 2010 World Cup and the 2012 European Championship, and is a three-time Champions League winner with Barcelona. 

The couple share two sons and had been living together for years on the outskirts of Barcelona.

"We regret to confirm that we are separating. For the well-being of our children, who are our upmost priority, we request respect for (our) privacy," they said in a statement.

With her mix of Latin and Arabic rhythms and rock influence, three-time Grammy winner Shakira is one of the biggest stars from Latin America, scoring major global hits with songs such as "Hips don't Lie" and "Whenever, Wherever".

In 2020, she performed with Jennifer Lopez at the halftime show of the NFL's Super Bowl championship final in Miami, typically one of the most-watched half-hours in US television.

The couple announced their separation just over a week after Spanish court documents inched Shakira closer to standing trial in Spain for tax fraud after a Barcelona court dismissed an appeal from the singer.

Spanish prosecutors accuse her of defrauding the Spanish tax office out of 14.5 million euros ($15.5 million) on income earned between 2012 and 2014.

They say she moved to Spain in 2011 when her relationship with Pique became public but maintained official tax residency in the Bahamas until 2015.

Her defence lawyers say she moved to Spain full time only in 2015 and insist that her "conduct on tax matters has always been impeccable in all the countries she had to pay taxes".

In an interview with AFP in 2019, Shakira said temporarily losing her voice two years earlier had been "the darkest moment of her life" and affected her "deeply". 

She later recovered her voice naturally, without needing to undergo surgery as recommended by doctors and subsequently carried out a world tour in 2018.

Agence France-Presse

Gerard Pique handed €2.1 million tax bill

Barcelona’s Gerard Pique will be forced to pay 2.1 million euros ($2.36 million) to Spain’s tax authorities after his conviction for rights-image fraud was confirmed, a legal source told AFP on Wednesday.

According to a May 13 decision the country’s National Court rejected Pique’s appeal against the 2016 sentence which required the former Spain international to pay 1.5 million euros in tax arrears and a 600,000 euros fine.

The tribunal concluded Pique had faked the handover of his rights images to his Kerad Project company to pay less tax for 2008, 2009 and 2010.

Pique, a World Cup and European Championships winner retains the right to appeal to Spain’s supreme court.

The verdict comes a month after his wife, Colombian musician Shakira, was questioned by a judge near the Catalan city over alleged evasion of 14.5 million euros in taxes.

Her press team released a statement in which they said the artist was innocent.

The center-back’s former teammate at the Camp Nou Neymar is under investigation by Spain’s fiscal authorities over a bonus he received at Barca as well as his world-record transfer to Paris Saint-Germain.

Another of Pique’s fellow club squad members Lionel Messi, paid a two-million-euro fine in 2016 in his own tax wrangle and received a 21-month jail term.

The prison sentence was later reduced to a further fine of 252,000 euros, equivalent to 400 euros per day of the original term.

A Spanish court in January handed Portuguese forward Cristiano Ronaldo a suspended two-year prison sentence for committing tax fraud when he was at Real Madrid.

The player, who joined Italian side Juventus last year, also agreed to pay 18.8 million euros in fines and back taxes to settle the case, according to judicial sources.

Newspaper El Mundo reported in April authorities had accused Atletico Madrid attacker Diego Costa of fraud totaling 1.1 million euros related to taxes related to his image rights in 2014.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Messi feeling ‘low’ over injury – Pique

MADRID, Spain- Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi is feeling down after being sidelined for up to eight weeks with a leg injury, teammate Gerard Pique said in an interview published Thursday.

Pique, who has been struggling himself with a groin strain, said the 26-year-old Argentine international had a serious injury.

“His case is different. He has had several injuries in a row and perhaps that has led him to lose confidence. I haven’t had muscle problems like Leo’s. Touch wood,” Pique told Barcelona-based sports daily Mundo Deportivo.

“He is feeling low but that’s normal. It is a serious injury. His spirits will improve in a matter of days but right now it is logical that he feels a certain psychological fatigue,” the Barcelona defender said.

Asked whether it was possible to speak to Messi about the injury, Pique said: “When you get injured you need some space and that’s the case with Leo who has had several injuries in a row.

“The main thing is that he is at ease. It’s normal that, for example, after leaving the field he goes straight to the bench without saying anything.”

Barcelona announced Monday that Messi would be sidelined for six to eight weeks with a muscle tear in his left hamstring muscle, his third leg injury this season following hamstring and thigh injuries in his right leg.

Messi limped off after just 20 minutes of Barcelona’s 4-1 win over Real Betis on Sunday.

The injury means Barcelona will be without Messi for up to eight matches, including their last two Champions League group games against Ajax and Celtic.

Messi thanked his fans for their support this week and said it was “a pity” that he could not join his Barcelona teammates.

Pique has been struggling with a groin strain in recent weeks and was left out of Vicente del Bosque’s Spain squad for the friendlies against Equatorial Guinea and South Africa this month to allow him to recover.

The 26-year-old central defender said he could recover “100 percent” from the injury.

source: sports.inquirer.net