TURIN • Cristiano Ronaldo yesterday issued his first statement since being accused of sexual assault late last week, calling rape "an abominable crime".

The Portuguese football star categorically denied accusations by a former American model, who said the forward raped her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.

"I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me," tweeted the 33-year-old, who joined the Italian champions in a €100 million (S$159 million) close-season transfer from 13-time European Cup winners Real Madrid.

"Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. My clear conscious (sic) will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations.

"Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense."

ABOMINABLE CRIME

Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. My clear conscious (sic) will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations.

CRISTIANO RONALDO, Juventus football star, in a strongly worded statement on Twitter after former model Kathryn Mayorga filed a lawsuit last month, claiming that he had raped her in Las Vegas in 2009.

He made the comments a day after Juventus' 3-0 Champions League Group H home win over Swiss champions Young Boys on Tuesday, a game he did not feature in because of a one-match suspension incurred during his side's opener at Valencia.

In a 32-page complaint filed last month with a district court in the American state of Nevada, Kathryn Mayorga, 34, accused Ronaldo of raping her on June 13, 2009.

Las Vegas police this week said they were reopening a case filed on that date, but did not identify the victim or the alleged perpetrator.

Mayorga's lawyers were due to hold a news conference yesterday to discuss the case.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE