...BUT RAPE CASE BANNER FLIES OVER STADIUM
CRISTIANO RONALDO’S return to Manchester United yesterday was met with a protest in the sky above Old Trafford.
A plane trailing a banner with the words ‘Believe Kathryn Mayorga’ – the woman who alleges she was raped by the footballer – circled the stadium for most of the first half.
Miss Mayorga, 35, reported the rape allegation in the hours after meeting Ronaldo in Las Vegas in June 2009 but a criminal investigation ended in 2019, with Las Vegas police chiefs stating that the allegation could not ‘be proven beyond reasonable doubt’.
She has an ongoing civil suit worth £56million. Ronaldo has strenuously denied the claims and branded them ‘fake news’.
Feminist group Level Up said its demonstration was to highlight that ‘the football world remains silent over the claims while it fawns over Ronaldo’s return to Manchester United’.
‘One of the world’s most famous athletes has been accused of rape, but there has been almost universal silence about it,’ said Janey Starling, co-director of Level Up.
‘Manchester United have not acknowledged that there are unresolved rape allegations against Ronaldo and are giving him a hero’s welcome.
‘As a society, we can’t let a woman’s story of rape be silenced.’