Ronaldo will avoid US tour amid rape allegations

Cristiano Ronaldo’s legal troubles, following accusations of rape is shaping Juventus’s participation in the summer tournament at USA, a report by New York Times wrote.

The organisers of The International Champions Cup, Relevent Sports, decided to keep Juve away from the US in order to eliminate chances of Ronaldo being detained in the US, the newspaper reported. Juventus will still be a part of the tournament but only its Asian version with their matches likely to take place in China and Singapore.

Five months had passed since the Las Vegas police reopened an investigation into a rape accusation made by a former model who said soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo attacked her in his Las Vegas hotel penthouse suite in 2009.

The story was first brought into light by German magazine Der Spiegel. The magazine published a 9,000-word interview and had stood firm by their reporting of what happened.

Ronaldo rejected the charges as "fake news" during a live chat on Instagram.

"What they said today, fake -- fake news," the 33-year-old star said in a post that was later deleted.

Kathryn Mayorga, 34, accused Ronaldo, in a 32-page complaint filed in September last year with a district court in Nevada, of raping her on June 13, 2009.

The court procedures are currently in limbo, primarily because Ronaldo has still not been served notice of the lawsuit. “Serving a lawsuit to someone who lives abroad is a tricky process that requires following rules set forth in international treaties, and Ronaldo has not authorized his American attorney to accept on his behalf,” ESPN wrote on a report filed on March 12.

The lawyer, Peter S. Christiansen, who was supposed to defend Ronaldo in court, is not even listed as an attorney of record in the court’s digital filing of the lawsuit from Mayorga. Reportedly, that space has been ‘left blank,’ as per the same ESPN report.

Attempts to serve a notice to the Juventus star in Italy have been unsuccessful so far.