Dani Alves trial: Brazilian footballer found guilty of raping woman in Barcelona nightclub

Dani Alves, a former Barcelona and Brazil football player was found guilty of raping a woman in a Barcelona nightclub by a Spanish court.

He has been given a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence, according to BBC.

One of the most renowned football players in history, the 40-year-old, had denied sexually abusing the woman in the early hours of December 31, 2022.

His attorney had requested that he be found not guilty and threatened to file an appeal of the decision.

As of now, a lawyer for the victim welcomed the verdict, saying that it "recognises what we have always known: the truth [as told] by the victim and the suffering there has been".

The court not only sentenced Alves to four and a half years in prison, but also recommended that he serve an additional five years on probation.

Nine years in jail was the requested sentence by the prosecution. In Spain, charges of rape are looked into under the general heading of sexual assault, and those found guilty face terms ranging from four to fifteen years in jail.

The length of Alves's prison sentence was determined by the court after considering his decision to pay the victim €150,000 (£128,500) in damages, regardless of the trial's outcome, according to Spanish media.

But the defence team's claim that he should receive a lighter sentence since he was intoxicated was rejected by the court.

The night of the crime, his wife Joana Sanz, 31, claimed he looked extremely inebriated upon returning to their Barcelona house, bumping into furniture before passing out on the bed.

However, the court contended that his alcohol intake had no bearing on his actions.

Alves and his companion, according to the prosecution, bought champagne for three young ladies before enticing one of them into a VIP section of the nightclub that contained a restroom she was unaware of.

They contended that he became violent at this point and forced the woman to have sex even though she had asked to leave several times.