Although Cristiano Ronaldo might not be the best player in the world in everyone’s mind, none can deny that he is one of the sport’s cleanest figures. Whilst many of his rivals battle tax evasion charges, the Portugal captain remains out of the court.
This nearly came to an end, however, when Der Spiegel claimed that the four-time Ballon d’Or was accused of raping a lady in 2009. The report claims to cite an out-of-court settlement worth $375,000 in 2010 over an incident that occurred in Las Vegas just after the former Man United star signed for Los Blancos.
Gestifute, the player’s management company led by Jorge Mendes, were quick to squash these claims. The company slammed the report, calling it “journalistic fiction” before insisting the 31-year-old will fight to clear his name.
They wrote in an official statement: “Today, the German newspaper Der Spiegel published a long article regarding an alleged accusation of rape that would have been directed at Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009, i.e. about 8 years ago.
“The article is nothing but a piece of journalistic fiction.
“The alleged victim refuses to come forward and confirm the veracity of the accusation. The newspaper has based their entire narrative on documents which are unsigned and where the parties are not identified, on emails between lawyers whose content does not concern Cristiano Ronaldo and whose authenticity he cannot verify, and on an alleged letter that is said to have been sent to him by the so-called victim, but was never received by Cristiano.
“The accusations reported by the Der Spiegel are false, and Cristiano Ronaldo will do everything in his power to react against these. An accusation of an act of rape is disgusting and outraging, and he will not allow it to hang over his reputation.”
According to the report, the altercation between Cristiano and the accuser happened in a luxury hotel in Las Vegas on June 12, 2009. A settlement was reached on January 2010 in which the alleged victim was paid $375,000 in exchange for her silence.
This comes shortly after Ronaldo’s impressive brace against Bayern Munich in the Champions League. His two-goal haul saw him become the first player in history to score 100 club goals in European competitions.
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Follow the game on-the-go
Download our iOS and Android apps to follow soccer on-the-go. It comes packed with features - live scores, fixtures, results, tables, line-ups, stats, TV schedule and much more! Sorry, no live streaming within the app.
