Barça has removed Dani Alves from being the club’s legendary footballer, a condition held by up to 102 footballers who have defended the Blaugrana jacket since its foundation on November 29, 1899. Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets and Gerard Piqué have been the last to join a list headed by the founder of the entity, Joan Gamper.
The Blaugrana club has been cautious in this decision, maintaining the presumption of innocence of the Brazilian, who was imprisoned preventively on January 20, 2023 while awaiting the trial. Barça has made this symbolic act effective once the sentence for sexual assault has been final. Dani Alves was sentenced on December 22 by Section 21 of the Barcelona Court to four years and six months in prison, a sentence that his lawyer, Inés Guardiola, has already announced that she will appeal.
Dani Alves earned the status of legendary Barça footballer for his 408 games defending the Blaugrana jacket during eight and a half seasons spread over two stages. A long and successful career in which he won three Champions Leagues, three Spanish Super Cups, three Club World Cups, six Leagues, four Copas del Rey and four Spanish Super Cups.
The 40-year-old Brazilian was also facing social condemnation and is now joined by that of his former clubs such as Barcelona, which has just made a historic and forceful decision: he is no longer a legend of the Spanish team.
“Barça has made this symbolic act effective once the sentence for sexual assault has been final,” says the newspaper Sport, which was the first to announce that the former full-back of the culé team was removed from a list of legendary figures as a result of his conviction for rape for which he must serve a sentence of four and a half years in prison.
The Brazilian, former player of his country’s team, Juventus, PSG and the best Barcelona in history – which Pep Guardiola directed and in which Lionel Messi stood out – has been in jail for more than a year after being accused of having sexually abused of a young woman in the bathroom of an exclusive area of the Sutton nightclub, in the Catalan city, on the night of December 30 and early morning of December 31, 2022.
Dani Alves was part of a distinguished list of 102 historical players who were promoted to the category of “legends” by Barcelona. The former full-back played 408 games for the club in the more than eight seasons he played with the culé shirt, in two different stages.
Together with Messi they celebrated three Champions Leagues, three Spanish Super Cups, three Club World Cups, six Leagues, four Copas del Rey and four Spanish Super Cups. The last to enter the prestigious list of “legends” of the club founded on November 29, 1899 had been Jordi Alba, Sergio Busquets (both teammates of La Pulga at Inter Miami) and Gerard Piqué. The list is headed by the founder of the entity, Joan Gamper.
Until now, the culé team had not commented on the matter but once the Brazilian’s sentence was confirmed, they decided to make this historic decision. However, the former soccer player’s lawyer, Inés Guardiola, announced that they will appeal the sentence, so there is an expectation that the ruling can be modified. “I really still believe in the innocence of Mr. Alves, Mr. Alves is whole, I am going to go this afternoon to see him and explain the sentence to him; I have not yet been able to study the sentence but I am announcing that we are going to appeal,” the lawyer noted.
This measure by Barcelona joins the request of the residents of Bahia, the city where Dani Alves got his start as a footballer, who requested the removal of the statue they had made in his tribute. In addition, the cast where he debuted in 2001 and won three titles, removed his image from the museum located in the Arena Fonte Nova, in Salvador.
Alves’s trial, which began 20 days ago, took place in Barcelona and reached the oral trial after having been in preventive detention for a year, and according to the court’s ruling, once he completes his sentence, he will enjoy “freedom supervised by another five years and he will not be able to approach the victim.”
The Prosecutor’s Office demanded a sentence of nine years in prison for Alves and when making the decision the magistrates of section 21 of the Barcelona Court took into account the victim’s account of the events and consider it proven that the Brazilian abused her without her consent.
Alves must compensate the attacked woman with 150,000 euros and pay the costs of the trial, and was also imposed a period of 9 years and 6 months of restraining order and incommunication with the victim, in addition to 5 years of supervised freedom.
The sentence can be appealed by the former soccer player’s defense, according to the Catalan newspaper Sport. “I was not obliged to be there,” Alves said during his testimony on the final day of the trial, emphasizing that they had had consensual relations.
However, in the conclusions during the oral process, prosecutor Elisabet Jiménez considered that the complainant presented an “absolutely credible story” since the investigations began, and assured that Alves used “violence” to force the young woman, who continues in psychological treatment since what happened.
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