The Old Lady of Turin’s Cristiano Ronaldo will play the pre-season International Champions Cup in Asia and not in the United States amid the Portuguese star’s rape investigation there, the New York Times has reported.
Most of the matches are slated to take place in the United States but organisers are planning to play Juventus’ elsewhere amid Ronaldo’s legal case, eliminating the risk of the Portuguese star being detained by authorities in the US as part of their investigations, the newspaper reported.
Juventus have confirmed their participation in the event with the official programme to be unveiled on March 27.
Juventus’ games will “most likely be in China and Singapore”, where they will be joined by Premier League teams Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur, the New York Times said.
Organizers of a high-profile summer tournament have decided to send Cristiano Ronaldo and Juventus to Asia this summer, fearing he risks being detained in the U.S. as part of a rape investigation. https://t.co/joAWerogCe
— NYT Sports (@NYTSports) March 20, 2019
Ronaldo, 34, has denied allegations made by former model Kathryn Mayorga that he sexually assaulted her in Las Vegas in 2009.
Las Vegas police asked Ronaldo to submit a DNA sample in January as part of their investigation into rape allegations made against him.
11 days without Juventus pic.twitter.com/OzKGD5s4Xu
— JuGif (@JuveGif) March 19, 2019
Contacted by papers, a spokeswoman for Juventus said that “going east to Asia was normal after spending recent preseasons in the United States”.
Juventus signed the five-time Ballon d’Or winner for 100 million euros ($117 million) last summer from Real Madrid and pay him a 31-million-euro annual salary.
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— Cristiano Ronaldo (@TeamCRonaldo) March 20, 2019
Last week, Cristiano Ronaldo became the first Juventus player in this century to score a UCL hattrick in the Knock-Out Stages. pic.twitter.com/x6ObtryKPP
The team are on track for an eighth consecutive Italian league title, while his hat-trick against Atletico Madrid sent them through to the Champions League quarter-finals.
Ronaldo, meanwhile, was reunited with his Portugal team-mates this week ahead of Euro 2020 qualifiers, as they begin their title defense, following a nine-month absence from the
When the Champions league resumes, Juventus is slated to face-off Ajax in the Quarter Finals after they knocked Christiano’s former club and current UCL champions Real Madrid.
