Creators of FIFA 19, EA Sport, have put back the image of Cristiano Ronaldo on the game's cover displayed on their website. The Canadian gaming company pulled it down at a point in time on Friday as rape allegations against the Juventus player intensifies.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been the subject of numerous headlines in recent times after being cited in an editorial by German magazine Der Speigel for allegedly raping an American woman. The victim, identified as Kathryn Mayorga, 34, allegedly claims the five-time Ballon d'Or winner forcibly slept with her in a hotel room in Las Vegas back in June 2009.
A few days following the publication of the accusations, Cristiano Ronaldo took to his Instagram Live feed to brand it as "fake news" after being queried about its validity by a fan. With the information of his supposed actions spreading across multiple news outlets on the global scale in recent times, the Portuguese football star subsequently took to his Twitter page to issue a statement refuting the claim.
"I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me," Ronaldo wrote in a Twitter post.
"Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in.
"Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense.
"My clear conscious will thereby allow me to wait with tranquility the results of any and all investigations," he concluded.
As he is the poster boy for the newly released FIFA 19, Cristiano Ronaldo shares a spot among other cover athletes such as Conor McGregor for UFC and Joel Embiid for NBA Live on the official website of EA Sport. However, the former Real Madrid winger appeared to have had his image removed during the day on Friday on the website as well as EA Sport's Twitter page. Check the screenshots below:(2).png?q=75&w=634)
In a revisit to the website of the game manufacturers, the image of the forward had been restored although nothing had been done about the image on the Twitter page which now has the FIFA 19 logo with complimentary review quotes as the header.
Speaking in an interview with Eurogamer, a spokesperson of EA Sport reportedly stated that the company was keening monitoring the progress of affairs concerning Ronaldo and the rape accusations.
"We have seen the concerning report that details allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo. We are closely monitoring the situation, as we expect to cover athletes and ambassadors to conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with EA's values."
