Real Betis midfielder William Carvalho appeared in a Seville court on Tuesday over an alleged sexual assault.

Carvalho, 31, denied the allegations and stated in court that both of his sexual encounters with the alleged victim were consensual, before releasing a statement to deny any wrongdoing.

The Portugal international appeared in Seville’s Investigative Court Number 9  after a criminal investigation was opened.

After appearing in court, Carvalho released a statement on his social media page in which he denied the allegations.

“The accusations against me are completely false,” Carvalho posted on his Instagram account.

“I consider any kind of violence against women, particularly sexual violence, to be an appalling offence, completely contrary to who I am and what I believe in.

“I have a great deal of respect for women and I am actively involved in various causes that promote gender equality.

“I’m not going to feed the media spectacle put on by those who want to promote themselves at my expense.

“I have a clear conscience, I have co-operated with the relevant authorities and, fortunately, I have the ability to prove the absolute baselessness of these accusations.”

The magistrate did not impose any restrictions on Carvalho, including his freedom of travel, but the…

“I am here because there has been injustice with Luis Rubiales,” Juan Tamayo tells The Athletic.

“This is very strong. It cannot be that a person is being called an abuser for a little peck, a kiss. When we all know that he is not. It is despicable. There are many worse things that have happened — a woman died last week and there was not all this brouhaha. It is a double standard.”

Tamayo is a resident of Motril, the Andalusian home town of Spanish federation president Luis Rubiales, who has been suspended by FIFA for his behaviour after Spain won the Women’s World Cup on August 20.

The 46-year-old was filmed kissing Jenni Hermoso on the lips as Spain collected their medals.

Rubiales has been heavily criticised by many in Spain, including the country’s acting president Pedro Sanchez, who called his actions unacceptable and called on him to consider his position. Acting minister for equality Irene Montero tweeted that his kiss was “sexual abuse”.

However, these sentiments were not shared by all of those who gathered outside Motril’s Church of the Divine Shepherdess on Monday. Or all of those inside.

Angeles Bejar, Rubiales’ mother, had entered the church on Monday morning to begin a hunger strike. Some protesters held up banners including ‘Stop Rubiales being…