Neymar’s father dissociates self, son from Dani Alves’ court trial

Neymar Santos Sr, father to Brazilian-born footballer, Neymar Jr. has revealed that his family won’t be involved in the court case of the convicted former footballer, Daniel Alves., ESPN reports late Thursday.

Neymar Jr. and Alves were teammates at Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain and for Brazil.

The former Barcelona and Brazilian player was sentenced on February 22 after being convicted of raping a young woman at a Barcelona nightclub in December 2022.

The victim, who testified behind a screen to protect her identity, said Alves had violently forced her to have sex in a private bathroom of the nightclub despite begging him to release her, causing her “anguish and terror”, prosecutors said.

Afterwards, Alves was granted bail after a Barcelona Provincial Court granted him “provisional release” in exchange for the bail payment of one million euros.

He was also required to hand over his Spanish and Brazilian passports, remain in Spain, and present himself to court weekly.

The ruling came a day after his lawyer requested the 40-year-old’s release on grounds he had already served a quarter of his four-and-a-half-year sentence in pre-trial detention following his arrest in January 2023.

In his statement on Thursday, Neymar’s father took to his Instagram page to dissociate himself and his son, saying, “There is speculation and an attempt is made to associate my name and that of my son with a matter that no longer belongs to us today.”

He recalled that he had helped Alves before his conviction, which was “without any connection with any lawsuit.”

However, with the recent development, “the situation is different from the previous one,” he said.

Neymar Sr. wished Alves “finds with his own family all the answers he seeks.”

Read the full statement below:

“As everyone knows, at the beginning, I helped Dani Alves, without any connection with any lawsuit. In this second moment, in a situation different from the previous one, in which the Spanish courts have already ruled in favour of the conviction, there is speculation and an attempt is made to associate my name and that of my son with a matter that no longer belongs to us today. I hope that Daniel finds with his own family all the answers he seeks. For us, for my family, the matter is over.”

Another former Brazilian footballer, Robinho, 40, was ordered Wednesday to begin his jail time “immediately” in Brazil after he was sentenced in an Italian court for taking part in the 2013 gang rape of a woman at a Milan nightclub when he played for AC Milan.

On Thursday, his legal team requested that the Supreme Court postpone the sentencing decision, made by Brazil’s highest appeals court, to allow time to challenge the legality of Robinho’s impending imprisonment.

However, lawyers for the former Manchester City and Real Madrid footballer said Thursday that they filed an appeal with the Supreme Court.