Real Madrid SUES over claims club pressured Cristiano Ronaldo into signing a ‘hush-money’ deal with woman who claims he raped her
Real Madrid has said it has taken legal action over the 'completely false' claims published by a Portuguese newspaper
REAL Madrid has said it has taken legal action over claims the club pressured Cristiano Ronaldo into signing a 'hush money' deal with Kathryn Mayorga.
Portuguese paper the Correio de Manha yesterday reported that the footballer planned to claim his former club pressured him into signing the deal with the woman who alleges he raped her.
Correio da Manha reported Cristiano’s defence strategy against the allegations of Kathryn Mayorga would include the claim his former club had leaned on him to sign a deal ensuring the case never got to court to protect its own image.
However in issued this afternoon, Real Madrid said: "Real Madrid announces that it has taken legal action against the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manhã for the publication of completely false information that attempts to seriously damage the image of our club.
"Real Madrid has no knowledge of what the newspaper is referring to concerning Cristiano Ronaldo and therefore could not exert any action on something it did not know about."
The statement added that the club has demanded a "total rectification" to the claims.
Ms Mayorga alleges she reached a £287,000 settlement with Ronaldo in 2010 in exchange for her silence before the original police allegation was dropped.
The 33-year-old Juventus footballer is facing a new US police investigation over her claims Ronaldo raped her at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009 after inviting her to his penthouse suite - allegations he vehemently denies.
This week, Ronaldo's lawyer Peter Christiansen said in a statement: "To absolve any doubt, Mr Ronaldo has always maintained, as he does today, that what occurred in 2009 in Las Vegas was consensual in nature.
"While Mr Ronaldo does not deny the existence of the mutual agreement and release, his motivations for agreeing to that resolution have been twisted to say the least.
"Far from any admission of guilt or any ulterior motive, Mr Ronaldo was advised to privately resolve the allegations against him in order to avoid the inevitable attempts that are now being made to destroy a reputation that has been built upon hard work, athleticism and honour."
MOST READ IN WORLD NEWS
Dad-of-four Cristiano described Ms Mayorga’s accusations as “fake news” and described rape as an “abominable crime”.
Cristiano has also been ruled out of Portugal’s games in November, against Poland again and Italy.
His next club game is on October 20, at home to Genoa.
His mum Dolores and sister Katia came out in support of him on social media on Monday by posting pictures of the footballer in a Superman cape and issuing matching messages which read: “I want to see who has the courage to put this photo on their profile for a week and make a chain for him.”
Las Vegas police have said they aim to question Cristiano about Ms Mayorga’s sex assault claims. She approached the force in August asking for the case to be reopened.
We pay for your stories! Do you have a story for The Sun Online news team? Email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368 . You can WhatsApp us on 07810 791 502. We pay for videos too. Click here to upload yours.