Italian football club Juventus have come out in support of their player Cristiano Ronaldo with a tweet proclaiming their record signing a "a great champion".
The Portuguese footballer has been accused of raping a woman in a US hotel in 2009 with police in Nevada recently re-opening the investigation into the incident.
Ronaldo signed for the Italian champions in the summer and tonight his new club tweeted: "Cristiano Ronaldo has shown in recent months his great professionalism and dedication, which is appreciated by everyone at Juventus.
"The events allegedly dating back to almost ten years ago do not change this opinion, which is shared by anyone who has come into contact with this great champion."
It comes as the footballer was left out of the Portugal squad for the October internationals against Poland and Scotland.
Portugal coach Fernando Santos offered his support to Ronaldo, who has scored 85 times in 154 appearances for his country.
Santos said an agreement had been reached for him not to return to international duty until 2019.
Ronaldo was also rested for his country's matches against Croatia and Italy in September.
.@Cristiano Ronaldo has shown in recent months his great professionalism and dedication, which is appreciated by everyone at Juventus. 1/1
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) October 4, 2018
Santos, quoted on the website of Portuguese sports newspaper O Jogo, said: "I personally always support my players and here it is not even a question of solidarity, I believe what the player said publicly, he considers (rape) an abject act and clearly reaffirms that he is innocent of what he is being accused of.
"There was a conversation with the player, the president of the federation (Fernando Gomes) and I. We agreed that the player would not be in these two call-ups, this and the next one in November."
He added on the national team's Twitter feed: "In the future, nothing prevents Cristiano from giving his contribution to the national team."
Ronaldo is being sued by a woman in the US, who claims he assaulted her in the penthouse suite of a Las Vegas hotel.
She also alleges the former Manchester United player dispatched a team of "fixers" to obstruct the criminal investigation and trick her into keeping quiet for $375,000.
Ronaldo has firmly denied the allegations, saying it "goes against everything that I am and believe in".
Speaking to reporters in Nevada on Wednesday, lawyer Leslie Stovall said the woman suffers depression and post-traumatic stress linked to the alleged incident, but was encouraged to launch legal action after seeing others do the same as part of the #MeToo movement.
