nd even toilets. They insisted the Sarajevo track, despite its

BARCELONA, Spain -- Barcelona has drawn widespread criticism for its campaign to support Lionel Messi after a court found the Argentine forward and his father guilty of tax fraud.Barcelona launched its social media campaign following last weeks court verdict that found Messi and his father guilty of defrauding the Spanish state of 4.1 million euros ($4.6 million). Neither man is expected to go to jail despite being sentenced to 21 months in prison because courts in Spain often suspend sentences under two years for first-time offenders.The slogan We Are All Leo Messi is a play on the public awareness campaign by Spains tax authorities We Are All The Tax Office. That is meant to encourage people to pay their due in a country still struggling to recover from an economic recession that has left unemployment at more than 20 percent.The campaign invites all of Barcelonas fans to show the best player in the world their unconditional support, Barcelona said. We want to transmit to Leo that he isnt alone.The club also posted a video of several dozen of its employees gathered together with hands raised in a show of support for Messi.Widely panned in Spanish newspapers and online, Barcelonas campaign has earned a rebuke from Spains government.I am not Leo Messi. I havent committed a fiscal crime, acting Justice Minister Rafael Catala said Thursday.The president of Spains Higher Sports Council, the countrys leading sports authority, has also blasted the league champions for their rally call.If the campaign intends to make a complaint of some type against the judicial ruling, then it is completely incorrect, council president Miguel Cardenal said. We have to respect and honor the (courts) decision. You cant have campaigns of this type in order to disagree with a court ruling.A workers union that represents Spanish tax inspectors has asked Barcelona to end the campaign, calling it irresponsible.The best thing for the club and the player would have been to accept the ruling and move on, said Carlos Cruzado, the president of the union Gestha. But this campaign . is destroying the educational work that must be carried out to make citizens conscientious (of their fiscal responsibilities.)Messi and his father deny any wrongdoing and have said they will appeal the verdict to a higher court in Madrid.While his club has launched its campaign to back him, photos of Messi spending his vacation on a yacht have appeared this week in Spanish newspapers. Those photos of Messi soaking up the sun in a bathing suit have spawned several jokes on social media about how he must be suffering.The spokesman for Barcelonas board of directors, Josep Vives, has defended both Messi and the clubs campaign.In similar cases, we havent seen attacks like those Leo Messi is receiving, Vives said. Its obvious that we cant tolerate this derision of our player.We have found ourselves in a controversy because it appears that FC Barcelona is defending tax fraud. What we are defending is a person that is being treated unjustly.Besides his club, the Spanish leagues president has also said he believes Messi is innocent.I hope that the Supreme Court revokes the ruling because Messi is not a delinquent and shouldnt be found guilty, league president Javier Tebas said. I have interpreted the campaign as meaning that Messi shouldnt worry, and so he knows that his club is with him.Messi is not the only player to have gotten into trouble over taxes.Also this year, Barcelona midfielder Javier Mascherno was handed a suspended one-year sentence for tax fraud; teammate Adriano is being investigated for allegedly not paying all he owes; and former Real Madrid player Xabi Alonso has been accused of tax fraud. Alonso and Adriano deny any wrongdoing.In June, Barcelona paid a fine of 5.5 million euros ($6.21 million) to settle a case brought against the club by Spains tax authorities regarding the signing of Brazil striker Neymar. In that agreement, the club acknowledged it had made an error in the fiscal planning of the players transfer. Cheap Air Max 97 Nz . Hamelin, who triumphed in the 500 on Saturday, edged out Victor An of Russia by 0.021 seconds to maintain his lead in the World Cup standings. Russias Vladimir Grigorev was third. 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Rivers threw a 22-yard touchdown pass to rookie Keenan Allen and Nick Novak kicked four field goals to give the Chargers a 19-9 victory against the Colts on Monday night. MOUNT TREBEVIC, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Sports enthusiasts and former athletes in Bosnia have taken it upon themselves to reclaim some of the glory Sarajevo savored as host of the 1984 Olympics -- and in the process rekindled the flame of international cooperation.Since the country lacks the resources to rebuild the Olympic facilities that were destroyed in the deadly war that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia, volunteers bought tools, rolled up their sleeves and got to work.At first, they planned to restore the bobsled and luge track on Mount Trebevic just so it could be used by the Bosnian national team for summer training. But the previously abandoned facility became a draw for athletes from throughout Europe.We bought some tools with our own money and started cleaning the track from vegetation, debris and mud, Senad Omanovic, the head of Bosnias Bobsleigh Federation, recalled. We had trees growing out of the track.The 1992-95 Bosnian war was the most brutal conflict on European soil since World War II. It took over 100,000 lives and turned more than half the population into refugees.It also trashed the decade-old Olympic facilities on the mountains around Sarajevo, venues residents once proudly looked up to from downtown as symbols of one of the citys most glorious moments. During the war, Sarajevans hid from the artillery and snipers Bosnian Serbs had placed on the Dinaric Alps.War turned the bobsled and luge track on Mount Trebevic, overlooking Sarajevo, into a concrete skeleton that eventually became covered with graffiti and trash. Little remains of the ski-jump facilities on Mount Igman, another site of fierce fighting. The mens downhill courses on Bjelasnica were resurrected as the citys main ski resort, but only after the land mines around them were cleared.Itt took Omanovic and his teammates years to clean the bob- and luge track where in 1984 teams from the German Democratic Republic took the gold and silver medals.dddddddddddd They could only approach the Trebevic track after mine-removal experts cleared its entire length.As word spread through Eastern Europe that the Olympic track had been fixed up, teams in other countries approached Omanovic to ask about practicing there. The first was from Slovakia.Omanovic recalled frankly telling the Slovaks the facility lacked locker rooms, timing sensors and even toilets. They insisted the Sarajevo track, despite its rough history and condition, was among the best of the nine tracks available around the world for summer training.Tackling the course on wheeled equipment, racers can achieve speeds of 130 kilometers (81 miles) per hour. After Slovakia, teams from Poland, Turkey, Slovenia, Croatia and Serbia followed.So this became a regional training center, said Omanovic, who now hopes the track will one day achieve its old glory.Jacob Simonek, a member of the Slovakian team that has practiced in Sarajevo six times now, said the track was a bit bumpy but good despite its age and battle scars.On the other end of town, the ski-jump facilities on Mount Igman still stand as sad relics of war.Selver Merdanovic, a former ski jumper for Bosnia, has started working to revive the two small jumps so the 15 children from his club team can practice there. Rebuilding the high jumps, an expensive endeavor, remains a distance dream.Im trying to return this sport to Bosnia, Merdanovic said. I wish this to be my legacy.---Aida Cerkez in Sarajevo contributed to this story. ' ' '