Juventus star Cristiano Ronaldo is in hot water after he was slapped with a rape charge a while ago. Now, the Portuguese talisman was handed court papers related to the rape lawsuit in the United States.

For the uninitiated, Kathryn Mayorga accused Cristiano Ronaldo of raping her. She claimed that the Portuguese superstar assaulted her in a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.

The 34-year old former Manchester United and Real Madrid player, vehemently denied the allegations against him. Cristiano Ronaldo has insisted that their encounter was purely consensual.

However, the legal process has hit a snag, owing to the “federal court’s rules on serving foreigners”. Over here, an identical state-level case would need to be dropped, according to Mayorga’s attorney.

A Nevada federal court later filed a motion saying, “the parties have agreed to deem Defendant effectively served,”. In other words, Cristiano Ronaldo has received the court documents in the case, thus allowing it to proceed undisturbed.

Mayorga, a former model levelled the accusations against Ronaldo back in 2018 and has since pursued the case. As it turned out, she had agreed to a financial settlement with the Portuguese superstar after the alleged incident. However, she claimed that her “emotional trauma at the time” prevented her from participating in the mediation process.

Also, Mayorga’s attorney revealed that the model agreed to an out-of-court settlement with Ronaldo. The idea was to maintain her privacy, but the viral #MeToo movement inspired her to speak out.

Ronaldo’s lawyers countered, saying that the non-disclosure agreement was “by no means a confession of guilt”.

When she levelled fresh accusations, the Las Vegas police reopened an investigation in 2019.

Cristiano Ronaldo is regarded as one of the greatest footballers in the history of the game. The man has clinched the Champions League title five times – once with Manchester United and four times with Real Madrid. On an international level, he led Portugal to the Euro 2016 title in France.