NEW YORK: Police in Las Vegas have reportedly issued a warrant to obtain the dna of Cristiano Ronaldo over accusations of rape which he has denied.

United States media outlets, quoting the city’s police department, report confirmation that such a request has been sent to the authorities in Italy where the Portugal superstar now plays for Juventus.

In 2010, Kathryn Mayorga reached an out-of-court settlement with Ronaldo involving a $375,000 payment for agreeing never to go public with allegations from the previous year about what his agency, Gestifute, has described as a brief consensual relationship.

She described it as rape which occurred after they met in the Rain nightclub at the Palms Casino Resort before moving on to a party in his suite.

Mayorga went public with the accusation last spring.

Initially Ronaldo dismissed the claim, reported in Germany news magazine Der Spiegel as “fake news”. Later he issued a social media denial of having committed any offence.

Ronaldo’s US lawyer Peter Christiansen has insisted that he “vehemently denies all accusations in this civil action” into which the police department reopened an inquiry.

Now the police have issued the dna request to see if it matches that found on a dress owned by Mayorga.

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