India, March 28 -- Former Barcelona defender Dani Alves won his appeal against a sexual assault conviction on Friday, as a court in Spain overturned the ruling. The Brazilian was found guilty in February 2024 of raping a woman in a nightclub in December 2022.

Alves was sentenced to four years, six months in prison, and he denied wrongdoing in the three-day trial. His defence lawyer Ines Guardiola told Catalan radio RAC1, "Dani Alves is innocent, and that has been proven."

"Justice has finally been served," he added.

The trial was a high-profile case and probably the first in Spain in this category since the country changed its laws in 2022 to make consent central in a sex crime, after an infamous gang-rape case during the San Fermin bu...