GOAL

Police in Las Vegas have reopened an investigation at the request of a woman who alleges she was raped by Juventus forward Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009.

German media outlet Der Spiegel reported on Friday that American woman Kathryn Mayorga had claimed Ronaldo raped her in a hotel room in Las Vegas.

Las Vegas police said in a statement reported by the BBC : "At the time the report was taken, the victim did not provide detectives with the location of the incident or suspect description.

"As of September 2018, the case has been reopened and our detectives are following up on information being provided."

The Portugal international, 33, appeared to deny the accusations as "fake news" in a live stream, which is no longer available, on his Instagram account over the weekend.

He is seen to say in the video: "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.”

Ronaldo's legal team, per BBC , say they will sue Germany's Der Spiegel magazine. His lawyer, Christian Schertz, said: "The reporting in Spiegel is blatantly illegal."

He reportedly added that he had been instructed to seek compensation for "moral damages" over "probably one of the most serious violations of personal rights in recent years".

Ms Mayorga, 34, is reported to have filed a rape report with Las Vegas police after the alleged incident.

She claims to have reached an out-of-court settlement with Ronaldo in 2010 involving a $375,000 (£288,000) payment for agreeing never to go public with the accusations. Her lawyers are now reportedly seeking to declare the non-disclosure agreement void.

Save The Children, a charity that Ronaldo has represented since 2016, expressed its concern at Der Spiegel's contested claims on Tuesday.

“We are disheartened by the news report we’ve seen in the last 24 hours and are working to get more information," the charity told The Independent .