Dani Alves has said he understands his model wife's decision to call time on their eight-year relationship in a letter written from his prison cell and published by a Spanish TV station.
The Brazilian international, who has been held on remand since his arrest two months ago over sex assault allegations, also promised to “fight to the end” to prove his innocence.
Antena 3 lunchtime show ‘Y ahora Sonsoles’, published the handwritten letter it said he had penned from prison. They described it as a ‘goodbye from Alves’ and a response to the heart-wrenching letter Joana Sanz published on her Instagram last week appearing to confirm her split with the footballer. It was addressed to ‘My Dear Joana’ and written in Spanish.
Antena 3 lunchtime show ‘Y ahora Sonsoles’, published the handwritten letterIt said: “It was almost eight years of much love, affection, respect and mutual care. Especially the last few years with you everything seemed easier and more pleasant. You and my children, Dani Filho and Victoria were the best things that happened to me in my life.
“We have grown together since the day we met, from the first minute we started our life together. We accompanied each other during all those years, strengthening each other and pampering each other's lives.”
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The letter added: “Now, in these difficult moments, I regret your decision and I hope that life gives us another chance to love you again. I understand the pain the unjust situation we are experiencing is causing and I understand that you have not been able to withstand all that pressure.
“The facts of which I am accused are foreign to me and to the values that have guided my life: love, respect and effort.
“I will continue fighting as I have always done, believing in myself with the support and confidence of those who know who I really am: I will fight until the end with the unconditional love of my children, my parents and those who continue to be by my side, to soon prove my innocence to the whole world.”
It finished: “Wherever, however, whatever, but forever in my heart. With lots of love"
Joana Sanz told followers on Instagram she would be parting with her husband (Getty Images)Presenter Sonsoles Onega did not say how her programme had got hold of the letter, written on a single A4 sheet of paper.
Joana published her letter last week, just 48 hours after it emerged she had visited Alves in jail for a second time since his January 20 arrest. She saw the 39-year-old footballer on February 5 in her first visit since he was remanded to Brians 2 Prison near Barcelona, shortly after a Spanish TV journalist claimed she had asked him for a divorce.
Joana, 29, rubbished some of the claims made by Telecinco TV reporter Leticia Requejo in Instagram posts at the time but stayed silent on the divorce issue. But she left her social media followers in no doubt she was planning to call time on her relationship with Alves with her two-page diary-style letter.
She wrote: "I think it's going to take me years to erase from my memory his way of looking at me, that way he had of looking at me as if I were the most incredible thing in the world and damn, yes, I'm incredible.”
She went on: “Despite the damage he has caused me, I am still here by his side. I continue and will continue to be, but in another way. I love him and I will always love him. Whoever says you forget love is either deceiving themselves or did not truly love. But I love myself, I respect myself and I value myself much more.
“Forgiving alleviates, so I keep the magic and close a stage of my life that began on 18/5/15. I give thanks for the opportunities and learning that life gives me, no matter how difficult they are. Here is a strong woman moving on to the next stage of her life.”
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Joana spoke out nearly a month after Alves lost his fight for bail over the alleged Barcelona nightclub sex assault late last December. The footballer was arrested after flying back to Spain from Mexico following the death of her mum.
As well as two spells at Barcelona, Alves has played for Seville, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Sao Paulo. He is widely considered as one of the greatest full-backs of all time.
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