Ex-Barcelona star Dani Alves sentenced to four and a half years in jail over sexual assault

A Spanish court on Thursday found former Barcelona and Brazil footballer Dani Alves guilty of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub.

The former Brazil footballer Dani Alves was found guilty of sexually assaulting a young woman and sentenced to four years, six months in prison on Thursday.

The ruling by three-judge panel in a Barcelona court followed a three-day trial this month. Alves, 40, denied any wrongdoing during the trial. He can appeal against the decision.

The court found Alves sexually assaulted his victim early in the morning of 31 December 2022, when she said he raped her in a bathroom of an upmarket Barcelona nightclub.

State prosecutors had sought a nine-year prison sentence for Alves while the lawyers representing his accuser wanted 12 years. His defence asked for his acquittal, or if found guilty a one-year sentence plus €50,000 (£43,000) compensation for the victim.

Alves has been in jail since being detained on 20 January. His requests for bail were denied because the court considered him a flight risk. Brazil does not extradite its citizens when they are sentenced in other countries.

The victim told state prosecutors she danced with Alves and willingly entered the nightclub bathroom, but that later when she wanted to leave he would not let her. She said he slapped her, insulted her and forced her to have sexual relations against her will.

Alves modified his defence during the investigative phase while in custody, first denying any sexual contact with her before admitting to sexual relations that he said were consensual. He said he had been trying to save his marriage by not admitting to the encounter initially. During the trial, his defence focused on trying to show that Alves was drunk when he met the woman.