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BOTCHED TRYST: Transvestite Andre Luis Ribeiro (next picture) told the police that Ronaldo did not pay him for his night's services and asked him to buy drugs.
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RIO DE JANEIRO - FOOTBALLERS in sex scandals are nothing new but the latest involving Ronaldo, once considered the best striker in the world, comes with an embarrassing twist.
The AC Milan player ended up in a police station on Monday, after he found out that the three prostitutes he planned a romp with were transvestites.
'This can finish my career,' Ronaldo was quoted by Globo Esporte as saying.
The 31-year-old was in Rio de Janeiro to recuperate from a horrific knee injury, in which he severed a tendon. The recovery has been going extremely well; he could return to playing in September.
Then came his moment of indiscretion. He left a nightclub in the Barra de Tijuca district early on Monday morning with three 'women'.
But, in a hotel room, he reportedly became infuriated when he found out they were transvestites.
The player and the prostitutes voluntarily went to a police station to settle the matter.
There, Ronaldo told police officers that he had offered each of them 1000 reais (S$800) despite the botched tryst, but only two of them accepted his offer.
The third, he claimed, had tried to blackmail 50,000 reais to hide the story from the media and threatened to post a video on the Internet if he was not paid.
Andre Luis Ribeiro, aka Andrea Albertine, however, accused the player of not paying for his services after spending the night together and of threatening to beat him and his friends up.
He showed the police documents that belonged to Ronaldo and images of the striker with them. The transvestite also accused the player of asking him to buy drugs.
In a statement to TV Globo, Ronaldo reiterated that he was a victim of extortion, denied he has ever used drugs and would take all possible steps to clear his name.
Carlos Augusto Nogueira, a police inspector, said he believed Ronaldo because Andrea left the police station before being questioned fully.
According to the inspector, Ronaldo admitted he knew they were prostitutes when they met but did not realise they were transvestites until they reached the hotel.
'He admitted to everything, he wanted to have fun,' Nogueira said. 'But he committed no crime at all, it was immoral at best.'
Prostitution is not illegal in Brazil.
'Ronaldo said he is not good in the head and that he is going through psychological problems because of his recent knee surgery,' Nogueira said.
The police will continue their investigations.
Ronaldo's personal life has been rife with problems.
He split with his wife of four years, Milene Domingues, in 2003 amid rumours of her having an affair with one of his Real Madrid mates.
They have a son named Ronald.
In 2005, he threw a lavish 700,000 euro (S$1.5 million) party to celebrate his engagement to Brazilian model and MTV presenter Daniela Cicarelli.
The engagement lasted just 86 days, and reportedly left him heart-broken.
The three-time World Player of the Year, who has also played for PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona and Inter Milan and scored both goals for Brazil in the final of the 2002 World Cup, has seen his career suffer a downturn in recent years.
He appeared to be overweight in the 2006 World Cup Finals. And, feeling unmotivated, he moved to Italy at the start of last year to play for Milan.
Yet further fitness woes frustrated Ronaldo, leading up to the third horror injury his knees have endured, this time against Livorno in February.
Many believed he would never play again, but Ronaldo vowed to return.
However, while his knee is healing, his reputation has taken a new beating after Monday's sensational events.
REUTERS
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