Brazilian footballer Dani Alves has now spoken from prison for the first time, six months after being taken into custody on charges of sexual assault.
The former FC Barcelona fullback faces up to 12 years behind bars for allegedly sexual assaulting a young Spanish woman last year.
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The incident in question is understood to have taken place at a Barcelona night club in December 2022, while the player was arrested in January, and he has now spoken out for the first time since.
"I have decided to give this interview, my first interview since I have been here, so that people know what I think. I want them to know the story from what I experienced in the early hours in that bathroom," Alves told Spanish outlet La Vanguardia.
"... We had been dancing very close for a while. We didn't kiss, or anything. But it was evident from the movements and the looks that there was an attraction."
The victim has claimed that after their relations, Alves hit her and threw her to the ground, before insulting her and preventing her from leaving the night club bathroom.
"None of this is true. But there she is, it's on her conscience. She never told me to stop. She didn't make any gesture of wanting to leave. The door was open at all times, she could have left because I remained seated practically all while on the toilet seat," the former Juventus star added.
Prosecutors argue that there are fingerprints from the woman on the bathroom mirror and the sink, where she alleges the sexual encounter took place.
Alves responded: "I don't know when she touched those places. But none of those movements that she has said that I forced her to do are true and the scratch is from remaining on her knees while she performed fellatio on me. There is not a single mark on her body that explains the violence with which she says I moved her in the bathroom.
"That night, when the woman I have a problem with comes out of the bathroom behind me, I stay by my table for a while. I'm not there for long because it's late. I'm with my friend Bruno and other people approach me before I'm leaving. When I leave the disco through the exit corridor, I know from the images that I pass near where the woman is crying. I didn't see her.
"If I had seen her cry, I would have stopped to ask what was happening. And at that moment, if someone in charge of the disco had asked me to wait because a young woman claimed that I had sexually assaulted her, I am not going home. That same day I show up at a police station to clarify what has happened.
"... It occurs to me that there is someone who gave her bad advice. Who felt bad after doing it, who took a step forward and who hasn't known how to get out of the mess she was in. She has gotten into and into which she has gotten me. I appeal to her conscience.
"There has not been a single night that I have not slept peacefully. Not a single night. I have a clear conscience. I have never voluntarily hurt anyone. And neither did I hurt her that night. I don't know if she has a clear conscience, if she sleeps well at night. But I forgive her."
The 40-year-old also explained that he changed his testimony several times in order to protect his marriage with his now reportedly estranged wife Joana Sanz.
The Selecao veteran remains remanded without bail in Spain as the court is concerned he might flee the country to Brazil if he is released in the interim, with the two nations having no extradition agreement in place.
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His trial is expected to start later this year, in either October or November, but an exact date is yet to be announced.
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