Ronaldo left out of Portugal squad to face Scotland amid rape claims
● Coach Santos offers backing to player and says agreement has been reached to rest him from national side until 2019
Cristiano Ronaldo has been left out of the Portugal squad to play Scotland in Glasgow later this month in the wake of a rape allegation made against the player.
The two sides will meet in a friendly international at Hampden on 14 October, three days after the Scots play Israel in a Uefa Nations League tie in Haifa.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos has offered his support to Ronaldo. The Juventus forward, who has scored 85 times in 154 appearances for his country, has been left out for the internationals against both Scotland and Poland, and Santos said an agreement had been reached for him not to return to international duty until 2019.
Ronaldo was also rested for his country’s matches against Croatia and Italy in September.
On Wednesday, the 33-yearold issued a strong denial over allegations he sexually assaulted a woman in the United States in 2009.
Santos, quoted by the Portuguese sports newspaper O Jogo, said: “I personally always support my players and here it is not even a question of solidarity, I believe what the player said publicly, he considers 0 Eder: Portugal striker netted winner in the Euro 2016 final.
[rape] an abject act and clearly reaffirms that he is innocent of what he is being accused of.
“There was a conversation with the player, the president of the federation [Fernando Gomes] and I. We agreed that the player would not be in these two call-ups, this and the next one in November.”
He added on the national team’s Twitter feed: “In the future, nothing prevents Cristiano from giving his contribution to the national team.”
Ronaldo is being sued by a woman in the US, who claims he assaulted her in the penthouse suite of a Las Vegas hotel.
She also alleges the former Manchester United player dispatched a team of “fixers” to obstruct the criminal investigation and trick her into keeping quiet for $375,000 (£268,000).
Ronaldo has firmly denied the allegations, saying it “goes against everything that I am and believe in”.
Speaking to reporters in Nevada on Wednesday, lawyer Leslie Stovall said the woman suffers depression and posttraumatic stress linked to the alleged incident, but was encouraged to launch legal action after seeing others do the same as part of the #Metoo movement. 2 Cristiano Ronaldo has issued a strong denial over allegations he sexually assaulted a woman in the United States in 2009.
Portugal will play Poland in the Nations League before the friendly against Scotland.
Among Portugal’s forwards for the international doubleheader are Eder, who scored the winner in the Euro 2016 final against France, and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Helder Costa who receives a first senior call-up.