Former Barcelona footballer and Brazilian international, Dani Alves has been sentenced to four and half years to prison over sexual assault.

Catalonia’s top court on Thursday found the 40-year-old guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in a Barcelona nightclub in 2022.

The court also asked the player to pay €150,000 ($162,990) to the victim.

The persecutor had earlier seek a nine-year prison term.

The former Barcelona player maintained that the sex was consensual.

“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.

“Daniel Alves has been sentenced to four and a half years in prison after being convicted of sexual assault.

“The court also ordered him to stay away from his victim for nine and a half years and determined he should pay his victim 150,000 euros and pay costs,” the court said in a statement.

His lawyer, Ines Guardiola, however kicked against the sentencing.

He said, “We are going 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.”