Ex-Barcelona star Dani Alves sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of sexual assault charge

Dani Alves has been sentenced to prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman.

The 40-year-old will serve four-and-a-half-years in jail over the offence which occurred in a Barcelona nightclub.

Alves was initially remanded in jail in January 2023 over the sex crime which occurred the previous month on New Year's Eve.

He was then denied bail after being deemed as a flight risk, with the 126-cap Brazil international ordered to stay in prison until the investigation was over.

The three-time Champions League had maintained his innocence throughout his trial, where he insisted that the encounter was consensual.

But he now been found guilty of rape at Barcelona’s Audiencia Provincial Court after it was ruled that the victim did not consent to sexual intercourse.

In addition to his prison sentence, he will also be forced to compensate his victim with a payment of £130,000.

That is in addition to being hit with a nine-year restraining order.

And once Alves is out from behind bars, he will have to undergo five years' worth of probation.

Prosecutors initially wanted the former Barca right-back to spend nine years in jail followed by ten years of probation.