Spanish prosecutors said they were "requesting four years and nine months in prison" for Carlo Ancelotti, who has been charged with "two offences against the public purse" for allegedly defrauding more than one million euros in 2014 and 2015 by failing to declare his earnings from image rights. 

According to the Public Ministry, Ancelotti earned 1.2 million euros ($1.3 million) from image rights in 2014 and 2.9 million euros ($3 million) in 2015. The Spanish institution said that Ancelotti signed a private agreement with Real Madrid, giving the club 50% of his image rights, while another "unnamed" and "unspecified" company that "acting on behalf and representation of the Italian coach," held the remaining 50%. Speaking at the post-match press conference after the match against RB Leipzig, the Italian coach said: "This is not the best place to talk about it, what I can say is that it's an old story that will hopefully be resolved soon, I have no problem, I'm very calm."

In July last year, a Madrid court decided to put the Italian coach on trial after a three-year investigation, although no trail date has yet been set, the prosecutor's office told AFP. Tax authorities said Ancelotti declared his income as Real Madrid coach in 2014 and 2015, but allegedly failed to declare income from image rights and other sources, including certain real estate properties. "Although he himself claimed his status as a tax resident in Spain and declared that his domicile was in Madrid, he only included in his income tax returns the personal professional income received from Real Madrid," the prosecutor's office said in its statement. 

According to a court document consulted by AFP, Carlo Ancelotti admitted the facts during the investigation, which could pave the way for a possible deal with prosecutors to avoid jail time.

The Public Ministry believes that Ancelotti deliberately omitted information from his tax returns as the Real Madrid coach "resorted to a 'complex' and 'confusing' framework of trusts and intermediary companies to channel the collection of image rights." The statement claims that Ancelotti "simulated" the transfer of his rights to companies that "lacked real activity" and were based outside Spain, "thus pursuing opacity towards the Spanish Tax Agency".

Carlo Ancelotti, 64, previously coached Real Madrid from 2013 to 2015 before returning to the club in 2021. The Italian coach says he is "very calm" about the issue for now.