Barcelona and Brazil full-back Dani Alves sentenced to four and a half years in prison for sexual assault

Former Barcelona and Brazil full-back Dani Alves has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison after being found guilty on the count of sexual assault on Thursday morning in Spanish court.

“The ruling considers that it has been proven that the victim did not consent and that there are elements of evidence, in addition to the testimony of the complainant, to understand rape occurred,” the court said in a statement.

Having been arrested in January last year as part of an investigation for an alleged sexual assault case filed by a 23-year-old woman in Barcelona, Alves has repeatedly denied the charges and refuted the claims of a sexual penetration. The Brazilian footballer would later go on to acknowledge the fact that he had lied in his previous testimonies in an attempt to ‘save his marriage’.