Barca revoke Alves' official club legend status after he found guilty of rape

Barcelona have withdrawn Dani Alves from their official list of club legends after his conviction for rape.

Alves was jailed for four-and-a-half years last week after being found guilty of rape in a Barcelona nightclub bathroom.

The disgraced former player won 23 trophies with Barcelona but no longer stands in their pantheon of legends, which honours 102 heroes from down the years.

Residents in his native Brazilian state of Bahia have called for his statue in Juazeiro - which has already been vandalised - to be removed.

Formerly a common name in all-time best XIs for Barca, the horrific crime which has seen him imprisoned has left people wishing to erase his name from the club's collective memory.

Barca have not yet issued a statement on the removal of Alves from their litany of legendary players.

That selection includes many of his former team-mates including Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, and current manager Xavi.

Alves arrived in Barcelona in 2008 and would stay until 2016, scooping up every trophy available to him.

That included six LaLiga titles and three Champions League crowns. He was also named in the FIFA FIFPro World XI six times during his stint with the Spanish giants as he became the foremost right-back in world football.

Only Messi can surpass the 43 titles which Alves won throughout a storied career.

The married 40-year-old was a world away from that glory on Thursday when he learned of his fate as a convicted sex offender.

He had been held on remand at Brians 2 Prison near the Catalan capital since his arrest in January last year.

Alves, whose lawyer Ines Guardiola confirmed she would appeal, protested his innocence on February 7 after taking the stand on the last day of his three-day trial at Barcelona's Audiencia