Former Manchester City forward Robinho sentenced to nine years in prison for sexual assault

The Brazilian is one of a group of five men who were found guilty of sexually assaulting a 22-year-old Albanian woman at a Milan nightclub in 2013

(Getty)

An Italian court sentenced former Brazil and AC Milan forward Robinho in absentia to nine years in prison on Thursday after convicting him of taking part in a gang rape of an Albanian woman in January 2013.

A Milan court ruled that Robinho and five other Brazilians assaulted the woman, who was 22 at the time, after plying her with alcohol in a discotheque. The whereabouts of Robinho’s five companions is not known, with the trial currently on hold.

Robinho, 33, who now plays for Atletico Mineiro in Brazil, pleaded not guilty via his lawyer and never appeared at any of the court hearings in northern Italy.

He has a right to two appeals and Italy will only launch extradition proceedings once this legal process is exhausted, a legal source said.

The Milan court ordered the victim to receive €60,000 (£53,432) as compensation.

Robinho spent three seasons at Manchester City (Getty)

Robinho maintains his innocence in the case. A statement on the Brazilian's Instagram feed read: "We would like to clarify that he has already defended himself against the accusations, affirming that he did not participate in the episode. All legal measures are being taken."

The incident occurred when the 33-year-old was a player at AC Milan, having joined the club in 2010.

Prior to that, Robinho spent two years at Manchester City between 2008 and 2010 where he made 41 Premier League appearances, scoring 14 domestic goals for the club.

He first made his name at Brazilian side Santos before moving to Real Madrid in 2005 as a “Galactico”.

The forward, capped 100 times by his country, returned to his home country in 2016 to join Atletico Mineiro from Guangzhou Evergrande.