Dani Alves, the former player of PSG, was arrested for sexual harassment.

Former Barcelona and PSG player Dani Alves was arrested in Spain. A Spanish judge on Friday ordered the arrest of Brazilian soccer player Dani Alves on suspicion of sexual assault at a Barcelona nightclub in late December, the Catalan High Court of Justice said. After listening to the footballer in police custody, the judge decided to put Dani Alves in “judicial detention” for “alleged acts that took place in a nightclub” in the Catalan capital. Facts he vehemently denies. “The magistrate issued an arrest warrant,” the body added, as the prosecution had previously requested.

According to a source close to the case, the young woman is accusing the 39-year-old Brazilian international of “rape”, which is part of sexual violence in Spain’s criminal code. According to this source, the young woman repeated her accusations before the judge on Friday. According to the mass media, the events took place on the night of December 30-31 in the toilet of a fashionable nightclub in Barcelona. The Catalan regional police told AFP that the footballer, who was summoned to a Barcelona police station on Friday morning, was “taken into police custody” before being taken to a Barcelona court to appear before this judge. Eight days ago, the court announced the initiation of an investigation into sexual violence on January 10 following a complaint by a young woman.

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Leak risk?

According to a source familiar with the matter, Dani Alves’ temporary detention was decided due to the risk of the Brazilian player being “leaked” and the lack of an extradition agreement between Brazil and Spain. In a video appeal transmitted to the Spanish Antena 3 channel and broadcast on January 5, the football player categorically denied the facts. “First of all, I’d like to deny it. I was there, having a good evening with other people in this place without invading other people’s space,” he said. “I don’t know who this young woman is, I don’t know her,” he assured again. “On the 30th she went out to dinner with friends, to disconnect a little, she really needed it. She went out to dance and enjoy the music like she knows how to do. That’s it. She didn’t do anything wrong.”, – his Spanish wife Joana Sanz described this information “without head or tail” in an interview broadcast on the same channel on January 9. In the evening, the Pumas club (Mexico), with which he signed a contract until July 2022, announced that the Brazilian player had canceled his contract “for a legitimate reason”.

The former player of FC Barcelona, ​​​​Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain, the most successful football player in the world (43 trophies), Alves had a few days of vacation in Barcelona after participating in the World Cup at the end of December. Qatar with the choice of Brazil. and before returning to his current club Pumas de Mexico. In Qatar, the defender became the oldest Brazilian to appear in the World Cup. After making his debut with Esporte Clube Bahia’s first team in Brazil at the age of 18, Alves quickly caught the attention of Spanish clubs. He arrived at Sevilla FC in 2002, joining the club that would see his greatest success six years later: FC Barcelona won 23 titles between 2008 and 2016, including three Champions Leagues, six Leagues and four Copa del Rey. He then left the Camp Nou for Turin and Juventus, where he would stay for just one season, winning the Scudetto and Coppa Italia.

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Alves then left for PSG, where he was reunited with compatriot Neymar. Having had little fun in Paris, he returned to Brazil in 2019 before a brief six-month return to Barça. He was also the Olympic champion with Brazil at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Alves, who has a strong social media presence, arrested Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro in 2019 for homophobic, misogynistic and racist remarks and eventually endorsed him during the 2022 presidential election.

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