Ronaldinho has been granted house arrest and will leave the Paraguayan prison he has been kept in. The Brazil football legend has been in jail on the outskirts of Paraguay capital Asuncion for 32 days alongside his brother Roberto Assis. The pair were alleged to have entered the South American country with fake passports and were subsequently detained by authorities.
But his turbulent time behind bars appears to now be over – and he will instead now go under house arrest.
Regular stories have been released on Ronaldinho’s time in jail, where he has been playing footvolley and other soccer games against in-mates. Among those he has been spending time alongside are murderers and thieves. He has been regularly visited by old friends, with pictures and videos of his time in the prison complex being released.
On Tuesday, it appeared that the once-smiley samba star was growing a beard as part of a new look. Former Paraguay striker Nelson Cuevas visited Ronaldinho and claimed that he lost his grin. But in a selfie video recorded from his cell, the toothy smile of the star was to be seen once again.
Earlier in the prison sentence, Ronaldinho’s old team-mate Rivaldo opened up on his fears for the 40-year-old.
He told Betfair: “I haven’t communicated with Ronaldinho since his arrest in Paraguay but I’ve been watching and reading about it with some concern and sadness as this is not good for his reputation and is dark chapter in his beautiful story.
“From my side, I’m just cheering for him and hoping that all ends up fine, but I expect it’s very annoying to spend your birthday detained in a foreign country.
“I hope Ronaldinho can emerge stronger from all of this.”
