Ronaldinho lawyers push for footballer's release over fake passport scandal

Lawyers for Brazilian football great Ronaldinho are trying to organise a hearing to get him temporarily released from detention for allegedly entering Paraguay with a fake passport, defense sources told AFP.

Ronaldinho and his brother Roberto were arrested on Friday and held in pre-trial detention in Asuncion for entering Paraguay using forged documents.

Sources close to his defense team told AFP on Monday the lawyers were trying to get the brothers a hearing on Tuesday in the hope of securing their temporary release.

Brazilian press reported that the country's justice minister, Sergio Moro, had contacted Paraguayan authorities over Ronaldinho's case.

"Moro only called to obtain information on the case, because... the Brazilian government is following it," a justice ministry official said, denying that Brazil was trying to meddle in the case.

Ronaldinho's Brazilian lawyer Sergio Queiroz has previously insisted that the two-time world player of the year's detention was "illicit, illegal and unlawful."