Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo was arrested on Wednesday and questioned on suspicion of rape, reports said.
Scotland Yard said two men went to a police station in Manchester and were questioned in connection with an allegation of a serious sexual assault at a central London hotel.
One of them, said be in his 30s, was released. The other, in his 20s, was arrested and detained for questioning by members of the police force’s Operation Sapphire team, which specialises in rape investigations. Scotland Yard declined to identify the two men or give any other information relating to the allegations.
According to the Press Association (PA) and Sky News, the man arrested was 20-year-old Portugal international Ronaldo. The PA reported that the woman said she was seriously sexually assaulted in a penthouse suite at the Sanderson hotel in central London on October 2.
”We’re not commenting at the moment,” Manchester United director of communications Phil Townsend said.
United’s assistant manager, Carlos Queiroz, told Portuguese media that Ronaldo had gone to the police station voluntarily and by appointment.
Ronaldo’s agent, Jorge Mendes, denied the accusation.
The rape allegation was a product of ”the imagination and fantasies of the young women behind the claim”, Mendes said in a statement sent to the Portuguese news agency Lusa.
Mendes also said the claim was made only after the accusers failed to sell their story to a British newspaper, Lusa reported.
Ronaldo arrived at Old Trafford two seasons ago and played a starring role in the club’s FA Cup success in 2004, scoring in the final in a 3-0 triumph over Millwall at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
The Manchester United star is one of several players who have been arrested and questioned on rape allegations in the past two years, although none has been found guilty.
Last September, two unidentified Premier League players were questioned over an alleged gang rape at the Grosvenor House hotel in central London. The national prosecution service decided there was insufficient evidence for them to be charged.
Three Leicester City players — Keith Gillespie, Frank Sinclair and Paul Dickov — faced allegations of sexually assaulting three women in a hotel on a training camp near Murcia, Spain, in March last year. They spent six nights in a Murcia jail, but all charges against them were dropped.
Charges were dropped against ex-Chelsea player Jody Morris and a friend in January last year after they were accused of raping a woman in Leeds.
Last June, Arsenal striker Robin van Persie was held in jail in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, for two weeks after being accused of rape.
The Netherlands international was released and has maintained his innocence. — Sapa-AP