Brazil international Dani Alves is arrested and quizzed by Spanish cops

Brazil international Dani Alves has been arrested by police in Barcelona and driven to court for questioning after being accused of sexually assaulting a woman at a city nightclub.

The footballer admitted he had been at iconic city nightclub Sutton late last month when the alleged sex crime occurred.

But he protested his innocence in a Spanish TV interview after a court confirmed it had opened a formal investigation, insisting: ‘I don’t know who this lady is. I don’t know her name, I don’t know her, I’ve never seen her in my life.’

Today the former Barcelona defender, now with Mexican side UNAM Pumas, was arrested at an undisclosed destination and taken to a police station in the neighbourhood of Les Corts to make a statement.

Overnight local reports said the 39-year-old, who became the oldest Brazilian to play in a FIFA World Cup last month, had arranged his police interview through lawyers.

The reports also said he would be arrested and fingerprinted as part of routine procedure before being questioned and taken to the court probing the alleged sex assault for a further quiz.

A spokesman for the regional Mossos D’Esquadra confirmed: ‘A man accused of an indecent assault at a nightclub in Barcelona late last year has been arrested.

‘He has now been taken to court after making a statement to police.

‘It will be up to the court now to decide what measures to take.’

A court official confirmed 10 days ago: ‘Barcelona Court of Instruction Number 15 has opened proceedings over an alleged crime of sexual assault following a complaint filed by a woman against a footballer.

‘The incident allegedly occurred at a nightclub in Barcelona in December.’

A spokesman for the investigating magistrate confirmed on Thursday the footballer, who it has not named, and the woman have not yet been questioned in court.

It emerged earlier this week Alves had flown to Spain from Mexico with the permission of his club after his Tenerife-born wife model wife Joana Sanz’s mum died.

UNAM Pumas confirmed in a statement: ‘We regret the death of the mother of Joana Sanz, wife of our player Dani Alves.

‘We send our most sincere condolences.’

A well-respected Spanish news website reported at the start of the month Alves had been alone for 47 seconds in a toilet at Sutton nightclub with the woman who accused him of sexually assaulting her after he left.

It gave a blow-by-blow account of CCTV footage now in the hands of investigators which led to the woman raising the alarm, although it didn’t publish any images.

The 47-second toilet claim was published by eltaquigrafo.com two days after the first reports of an alleged sex sex assault allegedly involving Alves appeared in respected Spanish daily ABC.

ABC, the first newspaper to name Alves, claimed he had allegedly put his hands inside the underwear of a woman said to have danced in a VIP area of the nightclub with the footballer and female friends of hers before she was followed into the toilet.