Real Madrid are taking legal action against a Portuguese newspaper after it made allegations the Spanish club told Cristiano Ronaldo to pay off Kathryn Mayorga, who has accused the footballer of raping her.
The tabloid newspaper Correio da Manha claimed Real Madrid, concerned about the damage to their newly-acquired £80m player in 2009, urged Ronaldo to settle out of court with Mayorga.
Mayorga claims the Juventus superstar attacked her in 2009 when she returned from a the Rain nightclub in Las Vegas to the player’s penthouse suite at the Palms Casino Resort.
The American woman is now suing Ronaldo to overturn the non-disclosure agreement she signed after the alleged incident.
READ ALSO Salah escapes sanction
Correio da Manha claimed the Juventus superstar will defend himself against the out-of-court settlement with the accusation that Real Madrid pressured him “one of the principal arguments.”
The Spanish club have hit back quickly though and intend to take legal action against the publication.
A statement read: “Real Madrid C.F. communicates that it has undertaken legal action against the Portuguese newspaper Correio da Mancha for the publication of information that is rotundly false and that intends to seriously damage the image of our club.
“Real Madrid had no knowledge of the occurrences that said newspaper refers to relative to the player Cristiano Ronaldo and, as such, could not have done anything about something that it absolutely did not know anything about.
“Real Madrid has asked for a complete correction on the part of the aforementioned publication.”
