Former FC Barcelona star Dani Alves was sentenced Thursday to four-and-a-half years in prison after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in Spain in 2022.

"The sentence considers that it has been proven that the victim did not consent, and that there is evidence, in addition to the testimony of the plaintiff, to consider the rape proven," Catalonia's top court said in a statement.

Alves' attorney, Ines Guardiola, said the Brazilian national plans to appeal.

"I still believe in Dani Alves' innocence. We haven't read the whole sentence yet because it's very long, but we are going to study it in detail now. We defend [Alves'] innocence," Guardiola said.

Alves was originally arrested in January 2023 after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman in the bathroom of a Barcelona nightclub. The 40-year-old has said the sex was consensual.

Alves' story changed several times during the investigation. He initially said he did not know the woman, later told police they met in the bathroom but no sexual contact occurred, and he finally admitted the two had oral sex but claimed it was consensual.

Alves claimed his lies were an attempt to hide cheating on his wife. Joana Sanz separated from Alves in March 2023.

The woman said Alves slapped her and raped her during their encounter. She said she initially went to the bathroom with Alves willingly, but he would not allow her to leave when she tried stopping his advances.

He admitted to being drunk on the night in question.

A right back who played 22 years of professional soccer, Alves was under contract with UNAM in Mexico at the time of his arrest. The club terminated his deal in January 2023.

Alves was on the Brazil national team from 2006 to 2022, winning a gold medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. He is the oldest player in Brazil history to appear in a World Cup game.

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