Soccer Football - Champions League - Round of 16 - Second Leg - Real Madrid v RB Leipzig - Santiago Bernabeu, Madrid, Spain - March 6, 2024 Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti after the match REUTERS/Juan Medina
(Reuters) - Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti said he was calm about accusations he avoided 1 million euros ($1.09 million) in taxes on image rights revenues while he was at the club in 2014 and 2015.
A Spanish prosecutor is seeking a prison term of four years and nine months for Ancelotti.
In a statement on Wednesday, the prosecutor said that although the Italian coach was a resident in Spain for tax purposes at the time and filed his tax returns there, he had omitted the income earned through his image rights - 4.2 million euros ($4.58 million) in total.
"It's an old story and it's not affecting me," Ancelotti told reporters after Real's 1-1 draw with RB Leipzig in their Champions League last-16 second leg tie on Wednesday.
"I hope it can be solved soon and I don't have any problem and I'm calm about it. The only problem I have is that team needs to perform better."
The prosecutor also accused Ancelotti of pretending to transfer his image rights to entities lacking real activity outside Spain to avoid paying taxes.
($1 = 0.9172 euros)
(Reporting by Shifa Jahan in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
