Dani Alves and Robinho ‘have to pay for what they did’ after rape convictions, insists an ex-Brazil team-mate – warning if they had done that to his daughter he ‘would not be here’
A former team-mate of Dani Alves and Robinho has pulled no punches when speaking about the two players’ demises.
Both Alves and Robinho have been charged with rape, destroying their legacies and could both serve sentences for crimes they were both charged with in the last few weeks, though Alves is appealing his conviction.
Alves walked from Brians 2 Prison near Barcelona last week after posting a €1million (£850,000) bail bond and winning his bid to appeal his four-and-a-half-year jail sentence from his home.
Robinho, meanwhile, was arrested at his flat in Santos last week having been found guilty in 2017 for his part in the gang rape of an Albanian woman at a night club in Milan in January 2013. He is set to serve a nine-year prison sentence.
The pair played for Brazil together for a number of years and now, former team-mate Felipe Melo has spoken out against both men.
A former team-mate of Davi Alves (left) and Robinho (right) pulled no punches when it came to the pair’s rape convictions
Alves and Robinho (left and second left) played for Brazil alongside the player (right), including at the 2010 World Cup
Felipe Melo said the pair ‘have to pay for what they did’ and their conviction should ‘serve as a lesson’
‘I have a 15-year-old daughter,’ Melo began, speaking to Globo Sporte. ‘If they had done that with my daughter, I don’t think I would be here to give this interview.
‘I believe we must respect other human beings, we must respect women, we must respect men. They have to pay for what they did. And let it serve as a lesson so that others do not do it. This is very serious.’
Melo, currently 40 and playing for Fluminense in Brazil, played for the the Brazilian national team between 2009 and 2010, making 22 appearances, including in the 2010 World Cup.
Playing for Juventus at the time, Melo travelled to the tournament in South Africa as part of a 23-man squad that also included Alves and Robinho.
He has also played for the likes of Galatasaray and Inter Milan in his career.
Alves, meanwhile, posted bail despite his lawyer, Ines Guardiola last year claiming her client ‘is broke’ and has a ‘negative bank balance of £17,000’, despite reportedly once having a fortune of £47m.
The hearing to determine Alves’ bail had noted the 40-year-old was set to receive ‘a large sum of money’ back from the treasury after his tax lawyer Fernando Mota won four cases against Spain’s tax agency, but he had not yet received the funds when he left jail.
Brazilian team-mate Neymar’s dad had been expected to help Alves pay the money to secure his freedom, but he issued a statement denying he would hand over any cash after coming under political pressure in his homeland. Alves has protested his innocence.
Melo (top right) said he doesn’t think he ‘would be here’ had the players ‘done that’ to his daughter
Alves has been released from prison after he posted a bail bond of €1million (£850,000)
Alves, who has been sentenced to four-and-a-half years in prison, will appeal his sentence
Robinho, who played for the likes of Real Madrid and Manchester City and made over 100 appearances for Brazil, had his final appeal against his conviction dismissed in January 2022.
The forward, real name Robson De Souza, claims he is innocent and has been living in Brazil for the past seven years.
Robinho, who was 28 and was playing for AC Milan at the time, admitted during his appeal to having ‘contact’ with the woman, but the Brazilian insisted it was consensual.
The Milan Court of Appeals found he had ‘belittled’ and ‘brutally humiliated’ the victim as it upheld his original sentence in December 2020.
