Cristiano Ronaldo hires detective ‘to follow rape victim’

The model accusing Cristiano Ronaldo of raping her in a Las Vegas hotel room says he hired a team of professionals to discredit her after the alleged attack.

Kathryn Mayorga, now 34, accuses the football star of using a team of 'reputation protection specialists' to frustrate a criminal investigation and smear her name after she accused him of rape in 2009.

Included in the team was a private detective who dug into Mayorga's past and tailed her around Vegas to see what she was getting up to, she said, according to the Daily Mail.

In the meantime his lawyers were seeking assurances from the police that the investigation was being treated as low priority while hammering out a £288,000 deal to buy her silence, court papers alleged.

The story was first reported by German magazine Der Speigel last week and subsequently disparaged by Ronaldo's lawyers as “probably one of the most serious violations of personal rights in recent years.”

Christian Schertz, attorney for the sports star, said Spiegel's reporting was 'blatantly illegal' and added that he has been instructed to sue for 'moral damages.'

Ronaldo personally denied the claims in an Instagram video, calling them “fake, fake news' before adding: 'I am a happy man and all good.”

In the past, lawyers for Ronaldo have vociferously denied the allegations.

Detailing what she says were Ronaldo's attempts to rubbish her account, Mayorga told Der Speigel of one occasion after the alleged attack when she was out with friends and they noticed a man sitting a short distance away.