sports

April 14, 2022

 Cristiano Ronaldo did his best to avoid the cameras as he skulked in the back of a car when leaving Manchester United training on Tuesday.

The Portuguese star, at the centre of a phone Demolish storm, seemingly hoped to stay out of the spotlight with a surreptitious exit in the back of a dark Porsche from the Club’s Carrington training ground in the afternoon.

Ronaldo is dealing with the aftermath of smashing a mobile phone from a young Everton fan’s hand when leaving the pitch after their 1-0 defeat against the relegation-threatened Toffees on Saturday.

Merseyside Police are looking into the incident and have appealed for more information.

They also confirmed that they were liaising with both clubs. Sarah Kelly, the mum of Everton supporter Jake Harding, a 14-year-old autistic boy, has alleged to the Liverpool Echo that Ronaldo ‘assaulted’ her son, claiming the player’s actions bruised Jake’s hand.

Ronaldo apologised on Instagram on Saturday night for his ‘outburst’ and invited the pair to Old Trafford as a gesture of ‘fair-play and sportsmanship’. However, the pair have refused his invitation, insisting they don’t owe him a favour’. Kelly said: ‘United have handled it terribly  and it’s just made things even worse to be honest.’

Responding to Ronaldo’s ‘backhanded’ apology, she added: ‘The way I see it is, if someone assaulted him in the street and then asked us to go around for dinner, we wouldn’t. Just because he’s Cristiano Ronaldo, why would we do it? It’s like we owe him a favour, but I’m sorry, we don’t.’

We’ve kindly declined the offer to go to United because Jake doesn’t want to go there and he doesn’t want to see Ronaldo. 

He’s made that pretty clear. They’re not my words, they’re my son’s words. It’s affected him more than it’s affected  me, so I have put everything to him to make his own mind up on – he doesn’t want to go to United, he doesn’t want to go to see Ronaldo. All that I’m saying right now is that it’s in the hands of the police’.

A spokesperson for Manchester United confirmed that the club will cooperate with the FA and the police’s inquiries. In the wake of the incident, Ronaldo has been widely criticised as a ‘prima donna and setting a bad example. Former Newcastle defender Jose Enrique also slammed him, saying Ronaldo ‘believes he is God and admitted he doesn’t like him.