Alves, 40, was arrested on January 20 and has been held in a prison outside Barcelona.

Former Barcelona and Brazil legend, Dani Alves could face nine years in prison if found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman in a nightclub in Spain.

According to Sports Mail, Prosecutors are pushing for that sentence, plus £130,000 in damages and 10 years of probation, the EFE news agency said, after the case finally reached the trial stage in Spain.

The former Sevilla, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain defender denies any wrongdoing and claims it was consensual.

He was ordered to stand trial earlier this month having changed his testimony on four occasions.

Alves was denied bail by judges back in January after his arrest for the alleged sexual assault in the bathroom of the Sutton nightclub in Barcelona on December 30.

He was playing for the Mexican club UNAM at the time and judges believed Alves was a flight risk. UNAM subsequently terminated his contract.

Alves said previously: ‘It will be proven that I am not guilty and it was a consensual relationship.

‘It will never cross my mind to impose a sexual act on anyone.’

His wife, the model Joana Sanz, appeared to confirm she had split from the footballer in a social media post dated March 15.

In a handwritten letter, she said ‘it will take years to erase from my memory his way of looking at me’ and ‘here is a strong woman moving on to the next stage of her life.’

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