Joana Sanz, the wife of Dani Alves, has faced criticism for expressing her desire to engage in rough sexual activities, including having her hair pulled and engaging in wall sex, just over a week after the footballer was convicted of rape.
Sanz, 31, was accused of exercising poor judgment by sharing these sentiments on social media, as many found her remarks inappropriate given the recent controversy surrounding her husband.
She wrote on Threads, an Instagram app: ‘Right now I would love to have my hair pulled and be ‘f**ked’ against a wall. It would renew my energy.’
Alves’ female accuser accused the disgraced Barcelona star of doing just that when she reported him to police for raping her in a VIP toilet at upmarket Barcelona nightclub Sutton on December 30, 2022.
On February 22 the 40-year-old dad-of-two was jailed for four and a half years after being convicted over the rape following a three-day trial at the start of last month.
The three trial judges concluded it had been proven Alves had thrown his 23-year-old victim on the floor, causing her ‘anguish and terror’, before bending her over a toilet and penetrating her despite her making it clear she wanted to leave.
Sanz, who admitted last year she wanted to divorce her husband of seven years but gave evidence on his behalf at his trial, doubled down on her ‘bad taste’ weekend message by claiming overnight: ‘More than one needs a “good seeing to”.’
Spanish media and social media users have reacted with incredulity and anger at her comments. The word she used to express what she’d like in Spanish was the verb ’empotrar’ which is generally used in slang in the context of a man penetrating a woman with vigour and often not bothering to ask her if she actually wants sex before acting on his impulses.
One critic said: ‘You would renew your energy if you stopped publishing such unfortunate comments. What a lack of empathy!’
Another added: ‘What a disgraceful comment after what your husband did.’
Spanish TV presenter Emma Garcia said: ‘Joana Sanz’s comments are unbelievable.
‘We’re talking about something the wife of Dani Alves has said just over a week after his rape conviction, using similar words to the ones the victim used in her police statement.
‘Inopportune is the softest thing I could say. Nobody can believe Joana using such inappropriate phrases.
Tenerife-born Sanz, who yesterday was treating her 949.000 Instagram fans to photos of the sumptuous breakfast she was tucking into in Paris, is remaining defiant in the face of the overwhelming criticism she is receiving.
She said in an Instagram Live: ‘It seems incredible to me that I have to be justifying everything I say or do.
‘People take everything out of context and then the same few as always go and repeat it.
‘I can’t believe what’s being said.
‘The threads I publish are spontaneous things that arise from thoughts.
‘Stop linking things to the court case or Dani or anything else. They’re things relating to my life. I have a life as well parallel to all that.’
She added: ‘Yes, people, let’s not act puritanical now. It fascinates me. I am fascinated by that passion, that fieriness when they grab your hair, kiss you, and eat you whole.
‘And that’s fine, too. I’m talking about me personally, about what I like and, well, each person in their privacy and with mutual respect, let them do what they like.
‘And what bothers me most is that people are taking this out of context and associating it with a judicial issue that has nothing at all to do with this.’
Alves’ lawyer has indicated he will appeal the rape sentence and conviction. Alves is behind bars at Brians 2 Prison near Barcelona where he was held on remand for more than a year before being found guilty of sexually attacking his victim.
The Brazilian international, widely considered to be one of the greatest full-back of all time, initially claimed he had never met his female accuser before admitting he had sex with her but insisted it was consensual.
Outlining what they ruled had been proven and had contributed to them convicting Alves, the trial judges said in a 61-page written ruling: ‘He tried to penetrate his victim by making use of his greater strength and throwing her on the floor and making her bang her knee.
‘The victim asked Dani Alves to let her leave, making it clear she wanted to get out of there, but he didn’t let her.
‘Finding herself in that situation, in that small toilet without any option of being able to leave because Mr Alves was preventing her with the violent attitude he was demonstrating, she felt shocked and unable to react or breathe properly given the situation of anguish and terror she was experiencing.’
