A Spanish judge has rejected an appeal filed by Lionel Messi’s lawyers to drop tax fraud charges against the football star, meaning the case against Messi and his father Jorge will continue.

The judge threw out a counter demand that the Barcelona and Argentina player be excluded from the case against him and his father which alleges they withheld €4 million in unpaid taxes from 2007-09.

The judge’s statement read that “in this type of crime, it is not necessary for someone to have complete knowledge of all the accounting and business operations nor the exact quantity, rather it is sufficient to be aware of the designs to commit fraud and consent to them”.

Messi and his father have five days to appeal against the ruling.