DANI Alves has played a match for a prison football team after his arrest over an alleged nightclub rape.
Brazilian international Alves was accused of sexual assault in a nightclub in Barcelona, where he plays his club football, on December 30.
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A 23-year-old woman identified Alves as her attacker to police, leading to his arrest on January 20.
He is being held at the Brians 2 prison in Catalonia, Spain, where he has reportedly made his prison football debut.
A source from inside the prison told La Vanguardia that “the expectation was great” as many of the other inmates idolise the Barca ace.
The footie star allegedly told fellow inmates: “I will accept what comes. I left home when I was barely 15 years old.
“I have overcome in my life very difficult and complicated situations. This will be one more that will pass. Nothing scares me.”
In an odd twist of fate, Alves is sharing a cell with another Brazilian, named Coutinho, though it is most certainly not his national teammate.
However, this Coutinho is not without his footballing connections, as La Vanguardia also reports that he was once the bodyguard to Brazil legend Ronaldinho.
It comes after reports that Alves was signing autographs for other lags while behind bars.
A former inmate of Brians 2 showed Telecino a shirt signed by the football star, 39.
He also revealed how Alves has been accepted in prison and no one has called him a “rapist”.
Alves initially denied any contact with his accuser, according to reports in Spain.
In a Spanish TV interview, Alves said: “I don’t know who this lady is.
“I don’t know her name, I don’t know her, I’ve never seen her in my life.”
However, in a court hearing, the footballer reportedly told the magistrate he had consensual sex with the woman.
His changing version of events was key to the decision to remand him in custody, El Mundo reports.
It came after CCTV footage published by Spanish media was said to show him and the alleged victim in a VIP area and then going to the toilet for 47 seconds.
The woman said that after the alleged attack she was too scared to leave the toilet for several minutes.
When she finally opened the door the footballer and his companions had left the venue.
She reportedly burst in tears and was comforted by her friends, before reporting it to the club’s bouncers.
The star’s arrest came as a second blow for his heartbroken wife Joana Sanz just days after her mum died from cancer
The Spanish model, 29, said she had lost the “two pillars of my life” following her husband’s arrest.
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