Dani Alves makes first social media posts in a year with comments turned off following ex-Barcelona defender's rape conviction

The 40-year-old, who has appealed a four-and-a-half year jail term after being found guilty of rape, was released from prison late last month after posting his €1 million (£850,000) bail bond. This week, he returned to Instagram for the first time since January 2023 with two posts, while turning off the comments.

The former Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona star made one post with a sea view sunset and the second was of a piece of art work. Both posts garnered more than 100,000 likes from his 36.5 million Instagram followers.

Alves, who has served 14 months in jail for raping a woman in December 2022, has surrendered both his Spanish and Brazilian passports and has to go to court once a week to maintain his freedom. Public prosecutors pushed for nine years in prison and the Brazilian's female accuser wanted 12 years if he was convicted.

Alves, who reportedly returned the €150,000 (£128k) legal defence aid he had received from Neymar Jr.'s father, will continue to be in and out of court as he awaits the result of an appeal to his rape conviction.