Brazilian soccer star Neymar Jr. was excused by the judge from attending the remainder of the first session of the trial in Barcelona on Monday where he and eight others are charged with fraud and corruption over the player's transfer to Barcelona from Santos in 2013.
"I was listening to the radio in bed and Mr. Da Silva Santos Jr was scoring so I know that he was in fact working. If you want to leave you are free to go," Judge Jose Manuel de Amo Sanchez said after the Brazilian's lawyers asked the court to free the player as he had little time to rest after facing Olympique de Marseille on Sunday night.
Neymar departed the court with his mother Nadine Goncalves.
He arrived early on Monday in the Spanish city on a private flight from Paris where he lives and spent around two hours at the Barcelona courthouse before he was excused by the judge from the rest of the day's session.
He is scheduled to testify on Friday.
Neymar was crucial to PSG's victory against arch-rivals Olympique de Marseille on Sunday evening, scoring the only goal of the match.
Spanish prosecutors are seeking a two-year prison term and a €10 million fine for Neymar. They are also seeking a five-year jail term for former Barca president Sandro Rosell and an €8.4 million fine for the club.
The case centres on the claim made by Brazilian investment firm DIS, which owned 40% of the rights to Neymar when he was at Santos, that it lost out on its rightful cut from the player's transfer because the value of the deal was understated.
DIS has demanded a much heavier five-year jail term for Neymar, fines worth 149 million euros in total, and for the player to be disqualified from playing for the length of any sentence handed down by the judge.
Along with Neymar, 30, the defendants include his parents, representatives of the two clubs, former Barca presidents Josep Maria Bartomeu and Rosell, and former Santos president Odilio Rodrigues.
"Neymar, with the connivance of his parents and the boards of directors of Barcelona and Santos, betrayed the trust of my clients," DIS lawyer Paulo Nasser told a news conference in Barcelona last Thursday.
"The real cost of the transaction (between Santos and Barcelona) was €82 million, and only €17 million appeared as the official transfer," Nasser said.
He said Neymar was also not sold to the highest bidder, as there were other clubs that offered up to €60 million for his services.
All the defendants have previously denied several times any wrongdoing.
Law firm Baker McKenzie, who is defending Neymar and his family, said in a statement that they will argue that the Spanish courts "lack jurisdiction to prosecute the Neymar family" because the transfer involved a Brazilian national in Brazil.
Neymar, a key member of the Brazil squad heading to the World Cup in Qatar next month, lost an appeal over the case in Spain's High Court in 2017, clearing the way for the trial.
The trial is expected to last seven days.
