Staff Reporter.
Prosecutors are seeking a nine-year prison sentence for Brazilian football star Dani Alves for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman last year, a Spanish court has said.
The 40-year-old is set to face trial over allegations he assaulted the woman in a nightclub in Barcelona on December 30.
The Brazilian was indicted by an investigative judge in August and the court said this month there was enough evidence to open a trial. A date for the hearings was not yet set.
Alves has been in prison without bail since being arrested in January over an allegation he assaulted a woman in a Barcelona nightclub.
He has said that he had consensual sex with his accuser after initially denying any sexual encounter with her.
The prosecutor has also asked for Alves to receive a restraining order following the jail term and for him to pay damages worth 150,000 euros (£130,500) to the woman.
In August, a court in the Barcelona area formally indicted Alves and later decided there was enough evidence to send him to trial.
A trial date is yet to be set for Alves, who played for Brazil at last year’s World Cup and had his contract with Mexican club UNAM terminated after his arrest.
In Spain, a claim of rape is investigated under the general accusation of sexual assault and convictions can lead to prison sentences of between four and 15 years.