Former Barcelona and Sevilla player Dani Alves has been dominating the headlines in Spain and Brazil following one of the most high-profile court cases involving a footballer in some time. The second-most decorated footballer in history was sentenced to four-and-a-half years in jail last week, after he was convicted of rape.
Alves, 40, was found guilty of rape in the bathroom of a Barcelona nighclub, and in addition to his stay in jail, he has paid the victim €150k in damages, and will be on probation for nine years, and has a restraining order from the victim for 12 years. It is reported that Neymar Junior’s family helped pay the damages for Alves, a factor in his sentence not being 9 or 12 years, as requested by the public prosecutor and the victim respectively.
It has made Alves a public pariah, where previously he was viewed as a hero – this has been seen in his hometown in Brazil. In Juazeiro in Bahia, a statue of the footballer was defaced with white paint, and according to Esporte, had plastic bags over his head. On social media, some have demanded that the statue be removed.
