Cristiano Ronaldo has "vehemently denied" allegations that he raped a woman in a Las Vegas hotel room.

It comes after 34-year-old Kathryn Mayorga said the former Real Madrid and Manchester United raped her in 2009.

She said she signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) with him in 2010.

In a statement released this evening, Ronaldo’s lawyer Peter Christiansen said he did have relations with Ms Mayorga – but insisted the incident was "completely consensual."

He said the NDA was "by no means a confession of guilt" and insisted that in signing it Ronaldo was only following "the advice of his advisers in order to put an end to the outrageous accusations made against him."

He said the footballer was attempting to avoid efforts to "destroy a reputation built thanks to intense work, great athleticism and ethically impeccable behaviour."

Rape allegation

The allegation came to light 10 days ago after a number of media outlets published details contained in the agreement.

Mr Christiansen said the documents were stolen as part of a Europe-wide cyber attack on businesses, including law firms, in 2015.

He said the statements attributed to Ronaldo within the documents were "pure inventions" and insisted the papers were "altered or completely forged" before they were published.

On September 27th, lawyers for Ms Mayorga filed a civil lawsuit in Nevada state court seeking to void the NDA – which she says she was paid $375,000 (€325,534) to sign.

Las Vegas police have reopened a sexual assault investigation into the encounter in the days since.

Reaction

Ronaldo's current club, Juventus took a 10% dive in its market value after the allegations emerged last week.

One of his major sponsors, Nike, has said it is "deeply concerned by the disturbing allegations."

Last week, Portugal left the player out of its national squad for two upcoming matches.

In his statement this evening, Ronaldo expressed his “full confidence that the truth will prevail.”