CRISTIANO RONALDO ducked for cover as he arrived for training in the back of a chauffeured car this morning. The Manchester United star pitched up to work at Carrington after a miserable weekend. Ronaldo, 37, failed to make an impact on the pitch as his side lost 1-0 at strugglers Everton. He then made noise […]
CRISTIANO RONALDO ducked for cover as he arrived for training in the back of a chauffeured car this morning.
The Manchester United star pitched up to work at Carrington after a miserable weekend.
Ronaldo, 37, failed to make an impact on the pitch as his side lost 1-0 at strugglers Everton.
He then made noise off it for all the wrong reasons after appearing to slap a smartphone out of a 14-year-old boy’s hands after the game.
Ronaldo later apologised on social media, offering to arrange tickets to a game at Old Trafford for teenager Jake.
But mum Sarah Kelly claims that her autistic son doesn’t want to attend a Man United game or meet Ronaldo after his ordeal that allegedly left him with bruising on his hand.
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She told Sky News: “I’ve got nothing to say to [him].
“Why should I travel to Old Trafford? Why would ‘a Blue’ want to go to [visit] ‘a Red’?
“If he was genuine, I think he should have turned around at the moment of the incident, picked Jake’s phone up and been like, ‘I’m sorry.’
“That was the biggest laugh for me: ‘sportsmanship’. When you can do that to a 14-year-old boy. That’s not sportsmanship at all.”
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Ronaldo wrote in the aftermath of the incident: “It’s never easy to deal with emotions in difficult moments such as the one we are facing.
“Nevertheless, we always have to be respectful, patient and set the example for all the youngsters who love the beautiful game.
“I would like to apologise for my outburst and, if possible, I would like to invite this supporter to watch a game at Old Trafford as a sign of fair-play and sportsmanship.”
Sarah added that Everton have been “amazing” in the aftermath of the incident – but that Man United have only “made things worse”.
She told the Echo: “United have handled it terribly and it’s just made things even worse to be honest.
Just because he’s Cristiano Ronaldo, why would we do it?
Sarah Kelly
“The way I see it is, if someone assaulted him in the street and then asked us to go around for dinner, we wouldn’t.
“Just because he’s Cristiano Ronaldo, why would we do it? It’s like we owe him a favour, but I’m sorry, we don’t.
“We’ve kindly declined the offer to go to United because Jake doesn’t want to go there and he doesn’t want to see Ronaldo. He’s made that pretty clear.
“They’re not my words, they’re my son’s words. At the end of the day, this is what it’s about.
“It’s affected him more than it’s affected me, so I have put everything to him to make his own mind up on – he doesn’t want to go to United, he doesn’t want to go to see Ronaldo.
“All that I’m saying right now is that it’s in the hands of the police.”
Sun Online understands that Ronaldo will NOT be punished by Man United over the incident.
But a police investigation is ongoing.
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Ronaldo is likely to next be in action when the Red Devils host Norwich on Saturday.
Ralf Rangnick’s side are no seventh in the Premier League table – six points behind fourth-placed Tottenham.
