Cristiano Ronaldo refutes "abominable crime" rape allegations

Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo on Wednesday "firmly" denied the rape allegations levelled on him by American woman Kathryn Mayorga, accusing the latter of "seeking to promote" herself via the controversy.

Taking to his official Twitter handle, Ronaldo wrote, "I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me. 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 await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations," the Portuguese added in a separate tweet.

His remarks come in the wake of the reopening of a 2009 investigation by the Las Vegas Police over accusations made by Mayorga, who alleged that the five-time Ballon d'Or winner had sexually assaulted her in the Palms Hotel on June 13, 2009, Goal reported citing German publication Der Spiegel.

The former Real Madrid and Manchester United star had earlier rebuffed Mayorga's allegations in an Instagram live video, calling them "fake news."

"No, no, no, no, no. What they said today (was) fake news. They want to promote my name. It's normal. They want to be famous to say my name. Yeah, but it is part of the job. I'm a happy man, I'm all good," Goal quoted Ronaldo as saying in the video.

Mayorga is reported to have reached a settlement of $375,000 in 2010 to withdraw all charges and never to go public with them. Her lawyers are reportedly seeking to nullify the non-disclosure agreement.

Ronaldo witnessed Juventus' 3-0 victory over Swiss side BSC Young Boys on Tuesday from the stands owing to the one-match suspension he received in the 0-2 victory over Valencia on September 19, wherein he was controversially sent off following a clash with defender Jason Murillo.

(PTI)