Dani Alves – from 43 trophies to 4 years in jail

Dani Alves, who was this morning sentenced to 4 and a half years in jail in Spain after being discovered responsible of sexual assault, was, till very just lately, certainly one of international soccer’s golden boys.

An exuberant, technical right-back, he was a significant a part of the Barcelona staff that set new requirements within the European recreation between 2008 and 2016. He performed 126 instances for Brazil and received 43 titles throughout his 22-year enjoying profession — an astonishing quantity that makes him the second-most embellished footballer in historical past. Only Lionel Messi, his former team-mate on the Camp Nou, has extra trophies to his title.

That success, coupled with a relentlessly upbeat public persona, made Alves a massively — nearly universally — in style determine. It goes some solution to explaining why his listening to, which happened over three days in a Barcelona courtroom earlier this month, was labelled “the trial of the year” in sure sections of the Spanish press. Despite its voyeuristic undertones, that epithet did seize simply how spectacular Alves’ fall from grace has been.

On December 9, 2022, Alves — 39 on the time — was on the bench as Brazil performed Croatia on the World Cup in Qatar. Exactly six weeks later, he was arrested by Catalan police, accused of raping a 23-year-old girl in a non-public toilet at a Barcelona nightclub on December 30, 2022.

Those accusations have now been upheld by Catalonia’s High Court of Justice. “The court has no doubt that the vaginal penetration of the complainant took place using violence,” learn a press release launched by the courtroom after this morning’s listening to.

Alves has spent the final 13 months in a detention facility some 25km northwest of Barcelona; requests for provisional launch had been denied as a result of he was thought-about a flight danger and there’s no extradition association between Brazil and Spain. After his jail sentence he shall be on supervised probation for 5 further years. He was additionally ordered to pay the sufferer €150,000 (£128,500; $162,700) in compensation, plus authorized prices.

Alves started his senior profession at Bahia, one of many greatest golf equipment in Brazil’s north east. He moved to Spain at 19, becoming a member of Sevilla — initially on mortgage after which on a everlasting deal after successful the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship with Brazil’s under-20 aspect.

At the beginning, some questioned whether or not Alves had the bodily power to compete in La Liga. His interpretation of his place, although, made the doubters rethink. Alves was technically a defender however defending was not his speciality. He was a free spirit, a de facto winger within the mould of his boyhood idol, Cafu.

Sevilla shortly labored out that they needed to harness that power somewhat than curb it. Alves was inspired to get ahead, to utilize his velocity and ability within the closing third. He helped the Andalusians to their first European trophy in 2006, establishing the opening aim within the UEFA Cup closing towards Middlesborough, and was equally influential as they retained that title in 2007. A yr later, he grew to become a Barcelona participant.

His preliminary eight-season spell on the Camp Nou — he later made a brief, largely forgettable return in the course of the 2021-22 season — turned Alves right into a celebrity. He received six Spanish league titles, three Champions Leagues and 14 different trophies throughout that point, not often lacking a match. You would wrestle to call one other full-back who got here wherever close to matching his affect and consistency over the identical interval.

It helped that his arrival at Barcelona coincided with that of Pep Guardiola. The Catalan’s possession-centric strategy suited Alves completely and revealed contemporary nuances in his recreation. His mixture play with Messi particularly was one of many trademark options of what many take into account the most effective membership aspect of the trendy period.

Alves, proper, received 23 trophies with Barcelona (Shaun Botterill – FIFA/FIFA through Getty Images)

Even after leaving Barcelona in 2016, Alves remained a distinguished determine. He reached one other Champions League closing with Juventus on the age of 34 — “an extra-terrestrial,” Juve defender Leonardo Bonucci known as him — and received two French titles with Paris Saint-Germain. When he returned to Brazilian membership soccer in 2019, signing for Sao Paulo FC, 45,000 followers turned up on the Morumbi stadium to welcome him.

That he by no means fairly replicated his success at membership degree along with his nationwide staff was most likely to be anticipated. Alves performed for Brazil throughout an prolonged interval of flux and, bizarrely, solely grew to become a daily starter in the course of the latter phases of his profession. He would have captained the Selecao on the 2018 World Cup, solely to be dominated out of the event resulting from damage. He did put on the armband the next summer season, nevertheless, main Brazil to a Copa America win on dwelling soil.

Alves’ perspective — chirpy, cheeky, apparently carefree — arguably received him much more admirers than his capability. Just a little character can go a great distance in a sport as overwhelmingly self-serious as soccer, and the Brazilian all the time appeared decided to take his onto the pitch with him somewhat than depart it within the altering room.

Over time, Alves leaned into this persona, changing into a full-time cultivator of his personal picture. He dabbled in modelling, launched a single and embraced social media. He appeared to a have tambourine or drum in his hand at any time when he stepped off the Brazil staff bus. He turned his description of his personal character (“good crazy”) right into a catchphrase. Whenever he signed an autograph, he drew a smiley face contained in the capital D.

Alves performed for PSG between 2017 and 2019 (Aurelien Meunier/Getty Images)

It has change into a ceremony of passage for footballers to publish lengthy first-person items on the Players’ Tribune web site. Alves has contributed two of them: one about his modest upbringing and one other reflecting upon the ache of lacking out on the 2018 World Cup. “Dani Alves is not going to the World Cup,” learn one emblematic line, “but he is still one happy motherf*cker.”

Later, when he moved to Sao Paulo, the identical web site produced a seven-part documentary about Alves’ life. In one episode he talks at size about his iconoclastic vogue sense, mugging on the digicam in a sequence of designer jackets. In one other, he discusses his relationship with music. Episode three is about Alves reconnecting along with his two youngsters from his first marriage. Its title is The Family Man.

That strand of Alves’ popularity now lies in tatters together with all of the others.

Earlier in February, the High Court of Justice of Catalonia heard testimony regarding Alves’ “slimy attitude” from the sufferer’s good friend, who had been current on the Sutton nightclub on the night of the incident. While the sufferer’s assertion was delivered in non-public, her testimony — beforehand reported by The Athletic based mostly on proof from earlier hearings — gave an in depth account of Alves holding her towards her will in a bathroom cubicle and penetrating her with out her consent.

Alves was sentenced to 4 and a half years in jail (ALBERTO ESTEVEZ/POOL/AFP through Getty Images)

This morning, the courtroom upheld that model of occasions, concluding that Alves had “abruptly grabbed the the complainant, threw her to the floor and, preventing her from moving, penetrated her vaginally, despite the fact that the complainant said no, that she wanted to leave”.

In a press release, the courtroom stated that “injuries to the victim (made) it more than evident that there was violence to force the victim to have sexual relations”, and that “the accused subdued the will of the victim with the use of violence”.

The defence legal professionals plan to attraction the choice.

The emphatic nature of the decision, nevertheless, signifies that it will likely be exhausting to take a look at Alves in the identical approach ever once more.

(Photos: Getty Images; design: Eamonn Dalton)