Real Madrid striker Cristiano Ronaldo has accepted substantial libel damages from The Daily Telegraph over a claim that he put his injured ankle at risk by "living it up" in a Hollywood nightclub.
An article published in the British newspaper in July 2008 had alleged that on arriving in Los Angeles to attend a sports award ceremony Ronaldo, who was on crutches at the time, "headed straight" for a trendy nightclub.
Ronaldo's lawyer, Allan Dunlavy, told London's High Court on Monday that that the report had caused embarrassment, offence and distress to the player, who was then playing for Manchester United. "The truth is that these events did not happen and the claimant did not behave unprofessionally," Dunlavy said. Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid the following year.
Ronaldo reacted in a statement:
"I am delighted with this outcome. I take enormous pride in my professionalism. I treat my training and recovery from injury very seriously and would never have drunk and danced in a nightclub without my crutches as the Daily Telegraph falsely claimed.
"I felt I had no choice but to begin and pursue these legal proceedings. I would like to take this opportunity to thank Sir Alex Ferguson, Roy Keane and the others who were ready to appear as witnesses at the trial which had been due to start today."
The Daily Telegraph has accepted that the allegations were untrue, apologised, and had agreed to pay Ronaldo substantial damages and his legal costs in full. The amount of the damages has not been disclosed. The newspaper has already run its apology:
We described how Cristiano put his crutches down to take to the dance floor with four models before being served “£10,000 worth of Cristal champagne”. The article alleged that Cristiano was behaving unprofessionally and that the sight of Cristiano “living it up” in Los Angeles would dismay Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson.
We now accept that this is not true. Cristiano was in Los Angeles and did attend the nightclub but he did not drink any alcohol at all while there, or at any time in Los Angeles, and did not put his crutches down and try to dance despite the risk to his injured ankle.
We would like to apologise to Cristiano for the embarrassment and offence our report caused to him as a professional who takes his health, fitness and recovery from injury seriously and are happy to set the record straight.
