The football world has rallied around Cristiano Ronaldo and his partner Georgina Rodriguez after they announced their newborn son had died. Photo by AFP via Getty Images
Young fan turns down Ronaldo offer: ‘We don’t owe him a favour!’
The young fan who had his phone slapped out of his hand by Cristiano Ronaldo has declined the offer to go watch a game at Old Trafford.
The football world has rallied around Cristiano Ronaldo and his partner Georgina Rodriguez after they announced their newborn son had died. Photo by AFP via Getty Images
The 14-year-old’s mother told the Liverpool Echo that her son, who is autistic and has dyspraxia, was left with a bruised hand after the incident that saw Ronaldo knock a phone out his hand when he reacted angrily to being filmed after United’s recent shock loss to Everton.
READ | KAIZER CHIEFS CHARGED BY PSL: HOW AMAKHOSI ARE LIKELY TO PLEAD
Merseyside Police on Sunday appealed for witnesses after footage on social media emerged to show Ronaldo knocking the phone away from the Everton fan as he left the pitch immediately after the defeat at Goodison Park.
“We can confirm that we are liaising with Manchester United Football Club and Everton FC following reports of an alleged assault at the Everton v Manchester United football match at Goodison,” a spokesperson for Merseyside Police said.
“As players were leaving the pitch at 2.30pm, it was reported that a boy was assaulted by one of the away team as they left the pitch.”
READ | ROYAL AM STRIKER VICTOR LETSOALO TALKS GOLDEN BOOT RACE AND FUTURE
Ronaldo issued an apology for his “outburst” on Saturday and invited the boy to watch a game at Old Trafford to make amends. However, this has now been dramatically declined.
“United have handled it terribly and it’s just made things even worse, to be honest,” his mother told the Liverpool Echo.
“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.”
