Ronaldo to plead guilty to tax fraud

MADRID — Spanish media reports that Portugal forward Cristiano Ronaldo has agreed to plead guilty to tax fraud and pay a fine of 18.8 million euros ($21.8 milllion) in exchange for a prison sentence that would most likely be suspended.

Spanish newspaper El Mundo reported Friday that Ronaldo is ready to admit to four counts of tax fraud that would carry a prison sentence of two years. Prison sentences not over two years in Spain are often suspended for first-time offenders.

The deal has yet to be ratified by Spain’s Tax Office, according to different Spanish media including Europa Press news agency.

Neither Spain’s Tax Office, its Ministry of Justice nor people close to Ronaldo would confirm such a deal when called by the AP.

Reports of the deal came hours before Ronaldo scored three goals to give Portugal a 3-3 draw with Spain in their opening match of the World Cup in Russia.

One year ago, a Spanish state prosecutor accused Ronaldo of four counts of tax fraud from 2011-14 worth 14.7 million euros ($16.5 million). The prosecutor accused Ronaldo of having used shell companies outside Spain to hide income made from image rights. The accusation does not involve his salary from Real Madrid.

Ronaldo denied any wrongdoing when questioned by a judge last July.

In 2016, Barcelona forward Lionel Messi received a suspended 21-month jail sentence after being found guilty of defrauding tax authorities of 4.1 million euros (then $4.6 million).

EMPTY SEATS: The World Cup opener in Moscow drew a rabid crowd of more than 78,000 Thursday, but the tournament wasn’t as warmly embraced in Yekaterinburg, where Friday’s game between Egypt and Uruguay was watched by wide swaths of empty seats.

Attendance at Yekaterinburg Arena was listed at 27,015, more than 6,000 below capacity, although that appeared to be a very generous account given the vast number of empty seats visible on TV. Most of the vacant seats were the bright orange ones in the lower bowl, where viewers couldn’t miss them.

Crowds at the two other second-day games were much better. In Krestovsky Stadium, a modern $1.1 billion retractable-roof venue

in St. Petersburg, 62,548 showed up to watch Iran beat Morocco, although that’s still nearly 2,000 short of capacity. In Olympic Stadium in Sochi, Portugal vs. Spain — one of the World Cup’s most compelling first-round matchups — drew 43,866. Not a sellout, but close.

None of the tournament’s first three games had an attendance that matched the stadium capacity, although the World Cup’s official ticketing website showed nearly all seats had been sold for every match, except some in the expensive 1 and 2 categories.

RATINGS: The overnight rating from major markets of the World Cup opener was less than half of the overnight for the first game of the 2014 tournament, hurt by a much earlier kickoff and less glamorous teams.

Host Russia’s 5-0 rout of Saudi Arabia, which kicked off at 9 a.m. MDT Thursday, got a 1.6 average in metered markets, according to Nielsen Media Research. That was down from a 3.4 for Brazil’s 3-1 win over Croatia four years ago on ESPN, which started at 2 p.m.

South Africa’s 1-1 tie against Mexico in 2010 had a 2.3 rating for an 8 a.m. kickoff.