Cristiano Ronaldo has been dropped from his position as an ambassador for children’s charity Save The Children, according to reports.
The news comes after Ronaldo received an allegation of “assault” after a video appeared to show him smashing a mobile phone out of a young supporter’s hand after Manchester United‘s 1-0 defeat to Everton on Saturday.
After the confirmation of the result, a disappointed Ronaldo left the field of play. However, as he made his way to the dugout, he angrily reacted.
The mother of the child in question, who is named Jacob, later uploaded a Facebook post. She accused Ronaldo of “assault” and referred to him as a “thug”.
In an interview with the Liverpool Echo, she also revealed that Jacob, 14, suffers from autism and dyspraxia. She added that he was “really upset”, and the incident “put him off” attending another football game.
Ronaldo apologises to young fan
Taking to Instagram after the game, Cristiano Ronaldo apologised to the young fan after the phone incident. He also offered him tickets to watch Manchester United at Old Trafford.
He wrote: “It’s never easy to deal with emotions in difficult moments such as the one we are facing.
“Nevertheless, we always have to be respectful, patient and set the example for all the youngsters who love the beautiful game.
“I would like to apologise for my outburst and, if possible, I would like to invite this supporter to watch a game at Old Trafford as a sign of fair play and sportsmanship.”
In response to the invitation, Jacob’s mother said United had handled the situation “terribly”. She added that she and Jacob had “kindly declined” Ronaldo’s offer.
She told the Liverpool Echo: “The way I see it is, if someone assaulted him in the street and then asked us to go around for dinner, we wouldn’t. Just because he’s Cristiano Ronaldo, why would we do it? It’s like we owe him a favour, but I’m sorry, we don’t.
We’ve kindly declined the offer to go to United because Jake doesn’t want to go there, and he doesn’t want to see Ronaldo. He’s made that pretty clear.”
Ronaldo stripped of charity ambassador role
Italian news outlet Gazzetta dello Sport reports that Cristiano Ronaldo has been dropped by the children’s charity Save The Children. He had served as an ambassador to the charity.
In 2016, Ronaldo sent a message of hope, as well as life-saving aid, to children living through the crisis in Syria.
In the same year, he also launched a selfie app in connection with the charity. The app cost €1.99 to download, and a portion of proceeds from each download went to Save The Children.
However, the 10-year spell of Cristiano Ronaldo as the charity’s ambassador appears to have come to an end following the phone incident. At the time of writing, the charity are yet to comment.
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