Shakira's lawyer says she would've saved £100M if she'd been in love with Ramos

Shakira's lawyer has claimed she would have saved herself 'more than £100million' if she had fallen in love with former Real Madrid star Sergio Ramos instead of Gerard Pique.

Pau Molins said the quirks of the Spanish tax system meant her 11-year romance with the retired Barcelona footballer led to her facing six tax fraud charges instead of three.

He defended his arguments, made on a radio station today, by pointing out that residents in Madrid do not pay wealth tax unlike those living in Catalonia.

Three of the crimes Shakira confessed to in court on Monday as part of a plea bargain deal related to evasion of wealth tax, a tax on residents' worldwide net assets, for the years 2012 and 2014. The other three related to income tax evasion.

The 46-year-old avoided a possible eight-year prison sentence as a result of the last-minute deal ahead of her scheduled trial in Barcelona.

She agreed to a three-year jail sentence she will avoid serving by paying fines totalling more than £7million.

Making his comments about the Colombian artist's choice of partner on a Catalan radio station, Mr Molins said: 'Shakira's infatuation has cost her €120million (£104 million).

'If she had fallen in love with Sergio Ramos instead of Gerard Pique it would have cost her a lot less.

'They go on about the equality of all Spaniards, but it turns out that if you're resident in Catalonia you can go to jail for a crime they couldn't imprison you for in Madrid, even if you're doing the same thing, because there is no wealth tax.'

Mr Pau also insisted he had wanted to go to trial, saying: 'I thought we could have won,' but said Shakira had decided to make a deal and his obligation had been to respect her wishes.

He went on to defend his client, claiming: 'With