Two of the transvestites who met with Ronaldo at an hourly hotel in Rio de Janeiro last month took back their initial claims of having had sex and taken drugs with the Milan striker.
After questioning the two transvestites for nearly four hours, police commissioner Carlos Augusto Nogueira, who is in charge of the case, said both “confessed to having lied on everything they said so far.”
“There were no drugs or sex between them that night. They said they made it up because they did not get the money they wanted in their attempted extortion,” the police official said.
PHOTO: AP
Nogueira on Tuesday questioned transvestite Andre Luiz Albertino, also known as Andreia Albertine, who filed suit against Ronaldo on April 28, and another transvestite involved in the incident, identified as Carla Tamine. The two work as prostitutes.
“Their attitude today [Tuesday] surprised us,” Nogueira said. “They said they saw an opportunity to get out of that life [of prostitution].”
He explained that both transvestites showed up at the police station of their own accord to correct their initial statements.
“They showed that they were really repentant,” Nogueira said.
Ronaldo has said that, as he left a nightclub, he decided to go to an hourly hotel with a prostitute, not knowing that he was in fact taking with him the transvestite known as Andreia Albertine.
He said that two other prostitutes joined them at the hotel, but he said that — contrary to what Andreia had told the media — there were no drugs and no intimate relations. Ronaldo insisted that he was just the victim of an extortion.
“I did not have sex because when I realized it was not what I was looking for I took my team off the pitch. I never took drugs, I am still a sportsman even if I am injured,” the striker said in a TV interview aired late on Sunday.
Ronaldo added that the scandal led to the end of his more than year-long relationship with engineer Maria Beatriz Anthony, 23, but he said he still hoped they may get back together.
Besides his girlfriend, the striker has made it clear that he thinks the scandal has cost him any chance of extending his contract with Milan, set to expire next month.
And it may also cost him lucrative sponsorship deals with various firms, including Nike, that provide most of the US$32 million that constitute his annual income.
Ronaldo admitted that he only has himself to blame for his current troubles.
“It was a tragic moment in which I made the worst decision of my personal life,” he said. “I am more than repentant, I am ashamed.”
Manchester United on Tuesday confirmed Michael Carrick as interim manager until the end of the season, tasking him with leading the Red Devils back into the UEFA Champions League. “Having the responsibility to lead Manchester United is an honor,” said Carrick, 44, who won 12 major trophies in his 12-year playing career at United. The former midfielder previously had an unbeaten three-game stint as caretaker boss at Old Trafford in 2021. Carrick then took on his first permanent managerial role at second-tier Middlesbrough in October 2022 and was sacked in June last year after the club finished 10th in the
James Harden on Friday scored 31 points and came up big in overtime to help the Los Angeles Clippers erase a double-digit deficit on the way to a 121-117 NBA victory over the Toronto Raptors. Harden scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime as the Clippers pushed their wining steak to five games despite the absence of star Kawhi Leonard with a sprained right ankle. The Clippers trailed by 11 entering the fourth quarter, but Harden drilled a pair of free-throws with 1:24 left in regulation to tie it and after misses from both teams, they went to
Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg on Wednesday was ruled out for the second half of their 118-109 loss to the Denver Nuggets after the No. 1 pick sprained his left ankle in the first half. Flagg was called for a foul while defending against Peyton Watson and turned the ankle as he fell to the floor with 6 minutes, 1 second left in the second quarter. Flagg limped to the bench and continued to the locker room, but returned for the final 2 minutes, 35 seconds before the break. The 19-year-old did not come out for the second half before the announcement that
Yassine Bounou on Wednesday saved two penalties, while Youssef en-Nesyri netted the decisive spot-kick as hosts Morocco secured a 4-2 shoot-out victory over Nigeria following a 0-0 draw in a tense Africa Cup of Nations semi-final in Rabat. Morocco, seeking their first continental title in 50 years, are to face 2021 winners Senegal in Sunday’s decider in Rabat, while Nigeria take on Egypt in the third-place playoff tomorrow. The 120 minutes before the shoot-out had few clear-cut chances for either side, but it was Morocco who created more opportunities, although they were denied by some fine saves from Nigeria goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali. Nigeria