Juventus have come out in defence of their record signing, Cristiano Ronaldo, with a bizarrely dismissive tweet following allegations of rape against the Portuguese star, and their response has caused something of a storm on Twitter.
Ronaldo wasn't included in the Portugal squad to take on Poland and Scotland in their upcoming internationals following allegations that he raped Kathryn Mayorga in Las Vegas in 2009.
The 33-year-old took to his own Twitter account on Wednesday to deny the allegations.
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. [@Cristiano]
However, Juventus issued their own defence of the five-time Ballon D'Or winner, who signed from Real Madrid for £99.2m in July.
The tweet from the @juventusfcen Twitter account read:
.@Cristiano Ronaldo has shown in recent months his great professionalism and dedication, which is appreciated by everyone at Juventus. 1/1
The events allegedly dating back to almost 10 years ago do not change this opinion, which is shared by anyone who has come into contact with this great champion. 2/2
It is fair to say that the defence hasn't gone down well with all as several influential journalists took to Twitter to voice their displeasure with the tone of the tweet from Juventus...
Juventus appears willing to ignore the rape allegations made against Cristiano Ronaldo because it occurred “almost 10 years ago.” [@ZidanSports]
Weirdly, terribly casual statement from Juventus on the allegations made against Cristiano Ronaldo. Doesn't even come across as the usual corporate, brand-sensitive legal-ese. Just seems terribly dismissive, which is not a good look [@OliverKayTimes]
Why did Juventus tweet [@JamesTylerESPN]
So while Portugal leaves Cristiano Ronaldo off the national team and Nike calls the rape allegations against him "disturbing," Juventus responds by... backing their 80 million Euro investment unequivocally. [@JoshRobinson23]
The @JuventusFCEN Twitter account followed up their original defence of Ronaldo by retweeting a tweet about their women's team visiting the Juventus Academy in Toronto, before sending out a video of Ronaldo scoring in training...
