A mother who claims her 14-year-old autistic son was “assaulted” by Cristiano Ronaldo is refusing to meet the footballer after being contacted by his representatives.
Police are investigating the incident after the Manchester United player was seen appearing to slap a young fan’s phone to the ground after his side’s defeat at Everton.
His mother, Sarah Kelly said a representative for Ronaldo phoned and invited her and her son, Jake Harding, to meet the player at Old Trafford after footage of the incident went viral online.
But Ms Kelly has no interest in accepting the star’s offer after she says he ‘smacked’ Jake’s phone to the ground.
“I’ve got nothing to say to [him],” she told Sky News.
“Why should I travel to Old Trafford? Why would ‘a Blue’ want to go to [visit] ‘a Red’?” she added.
Ms Kelly, from Upton, Merseyside, said Jake had been videoing the footballer as headed for the tunnel, seemingly limping with a leg injury.
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She said Jake, who is autistic, is still shocked at what happened: “He can’t digest things the same way a person with no disability would be able to digest things.”
Ronaldo later released a statement on Instagram and said: “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.”
But Ms Kelly wasn’t impressed with his post.
“If he [Ronaldo] was genuine, I think he should have turned around at the moment of the incident, picked Jake’s phone up and been like, ‘I’m sorry’,” she said.
“That was the biggest laugh for me: ‘sportsmanship’. When you can do that to a 14-year-old boy. That’s not sportsmanship at all.”
Jake is an Everton fan and Saturday’s Premier League match was his first trip to Goodison Park with his mum. Ms Kelly says seeing ‘big star’ Ronaldo was supposed to make the day extra special.
“He’d love to go back to Everton, but he wouldn’t want to sit there in the Park End [Stand] where it happened because that has bad memories for him.”
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Ms Kelly said Everton has been “amazing” and has offered them tickets whenever Jake is ready to return to the stadium.
But after speaking out about Jake’s experience, she said she’d been left in tears after receiving online abuse: “I’ve been called all kinds… mainly from United fans.”
The family are now waiting to hear from the police about what will happen next.
A post shared by Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano)
“I’m waiting for the police liaison officer to come and see us this week and I’ll discuss it further with her and then see where we go from there,” she said.
A spokesperson for Merseyside Police said: “Following an incident at Goodison Park on Saturday 9 April, we are working with Everton Football Club and have been in touch with the boy’s family. The matter is under investigation and we are gathering information. Our enquiries remain ongoing at this time.
“Anyone with information on this incident is asked to contact Merseyside Police social media desk via Twitter @MerPolCC or Facebook Merseyside Police Contact centre quoting reference number 22000243890.”
