Even as American woman Kathryn Mayorga's accusations of rape against Cristiano Ronaldo has created a storm, the Juventus star continues to insist that their sexual encounter back in 2009 was "completely consensual."
Mayorga had told German magazine Der Spiegel that she had met Ronaldo at a nightclub in Las Vegas before being invited to a hotel room later that night.
The former school teacher claimed the superstar footballer had begged her to touch his penis before anally raping her.
Ronaldo had previously rubbished the allegations, calling Der Spiegel's report as "fake news" and his legal representatives would sue the magazine.
Ronaldo's lawyer, Peter Christiansen, on Wednesday, has reiterated Ronaldo's stand on the incident and even opined that the German magazine had "irresponsibly" based its reports on data stolen and fabricated by hackers during a cyber attack in 2015.
Der Spiegel had reported about documents with Ronaldo's alleged statements on the incident. However, Christiansen has said such documents are "pure inventions."
The lawyer also confirmed that Ronaldo paid Mayorga $375,000 in an out-of-court settlement in 2010 but that the agreement is by no means a confession of guilt.
"Once again, for the avoidance of doubt, Cristiano Ronaldo's position has always been, and continues to be, that what happened in 2009 in Las Vegas was completely consensual," Ronaldo's lawyer said, as quoted by the BBC.
He added: "The documents that allegedly contain statements by Mr Ronaldo and were reproduced in the media are pure inventions.
"By 2015, dozens of entities (including law firms) in different parts of Europe were attacked and their electronic data stolen by a cyber criminal.
"This hacker tried to sell such information, and a media outlet irresponsibly ended up publishing some of the stolen documents, significant parts of which were altered and/or completely fabricated.
"This agreement [for out-of-court settlement] is by no means a confession of guilt.
"What happened was simply that Cristiano Ronaldo merely followed the advice of his advisors in order to put an end to the outrageous accusations made against him, in order precisely to avoid attempts, such as those we are now witnessing, to destroy a reputation built thanks to hard work, athletic ability and behavioural correction."
Der Spiegel hits back at "irresponsible" reporting comment
Meanwhile, the German magazine, who first reported about the incident last year based on documents that were available on "Football Leaks" website, have hit back at Ronaldo and his legal representative's claims.
"We stand by our reporting. Our story is carefully researched. We have hundreds of documents from different sources that substantiate our reporting. We have no reason to believe that those documents are not authentic," Der Spiegel said in a statement.
Notably, the Las Vegas police have reportedly reopened the sexual assault investigation from 2009 at the request of the accuser.
Juventus, whom Ronaldo joined for a fee worth more than €100m, has backed their star player, saying "events allegedly dating back to almost 10 years ago" do not change their opinion about him.
