Brazilian Football Star Dani Alves Being Investigated For Alleged Sexual Assault

Brazilian football player Dani Alves has been placed under investigation for sexual assault on Tuesday. Catalonia’s Supreme Court confirmed the former Barcelona and Brazil defender is facing allegations of sexually assaulting a woman during a night out at a club in Spain last month.

The Barcelona court stated that proceedings have been opened to look into the allegations from the woman who filed a complaint. Although the court’s statement did not specifically name Alves, a spokesperson for the court confirmed to Reuters that the player was the subject of the woman’s complaint, ESPN reported.

“Barcelona investigating magistrate’s court number 15 has opened proceedings for an alleged crime of sexual assault due to a complaint presented by a woman against a football player for events that allegedly occurred at a Barcelona nightclub this past month of December,” the court statement read.

Spanish media sources said the woman accused Alves of feeling her up her underwear without her consent while she was in the company of friends at a nightclub in December of last year.

Alves has denied all allegations against him and told Antena 3 in an interview that he was at the said club with other people and did not know the complainant. “I don’t know who this lady is … How could I do that to a woman? No.”

At the same time, the Instagram account of Alves’ model wife, Joana Sanz was reportedly taken down. Her account on the platform had 743,000 followers but now it seems the link on the page may have been removed. Spanish news website OKDiario described the odd occurrence as “strange” speculating that it may be a possible reaction to the allegations against her husband.

The Brazilian full-back led the national team when it played against Cameroon during the FIFA World Cup in Qatar in December. The 39-year-old player is Brazil’s oldest player who participated in the World Cup. He is regarded as one of the most decorated football players of his generation with winning domestic titles in Spain, France and Italy under his name. He has also won three Champions League titles with Barcelona - bringing home 43 career trophies between club and international games.