Dani Alves breaks silence on prison release after dining out at high-end restaurant

Dani Alves has spoken to a reporter while eating a meal at an up-market steakhouse in Barcelona alongside a friend, days after being released on bail while appealing his rape conviction

Rapist Dani Alves said “wherever I go, I survive” in his first public words since being released from prison.

The disgraced former Barcelona defender was let out on Monday after paying his €1million (£850,000) bail bond. He spent 15 months behind bars in Barcelona’s Brians 2 prison while awaiting trial for raping a woman in a nightclub in December 2022.

The 40-year-old was found guilty in February and sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison. Despite public uproar, he was allowed out earlier this week while his appeal against the conviction continues.

Although he had to surrender his Brazilian and Spanish passports and is forced to attend court every week, Alves appears to be enjoying his freedom. Having spent one of his first nights out of jail partying until the early hours, he headed to an up-market steakhouse with his friend.

And while enjoying his £200 meal, wine and coffee, he spoke to El Periodico about his current situation. “Every Friday I go to court, and that’s it. I don’t have much else to do besides that,” he said, via Mundo Deportivo.

“The game I have to play is in the courts. Wherever I go, I survive. I adapt to everything because for me, it is not the place that makes the person, but the person who makes the place.” Alves added that he does not know how long the appeal process might take.

After agreeing to release him on bail, Catalonia's High Court of Justice said: "The 21st section of the Barcelona Audiencia Provincial Court has agreed by a majority and with one dissenting vote to agree to the conditional release of Daniel Alves da Silva, with the payment of a bail bond of €1million.

"In the event that payment is made and his provisional release is agreed, his Spanish and Brazilian passports will be withdrawn, he will be banned from leaving Spain and he will have to sign on at the court on a weekly basis and appear in court whenever he is ordered to do so.

"Daniel Alves da Silva is also banned from going within 1,000 metres of the complainant's home, place of work or any other place frequented by her, and has been prohibited from communicating with her by any means or procedures until a final judgement is handed down after the appeals against his sentence have been concluded."

Alves tried on a few occasions to be released on bail while awaiting trial, but his efforts were denied – in part because he was deemed a flight risk. Prosecutors were concerned Alves could make it back to Brazil, a country which does not regularly extradite its citizens.