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After Cristiano Ronaldo slapped the hand of a soccer fan, the athlete issued an apology to the young boy and his mom. The incident occurred after Manchester United lost the match in the Premier League on Saturday, April 9.
In a viral video, the 37-year-old Portuguese soccer star walks alongside his teammates off the pitch at Goodison Park when suddenly he bends down and strikes a phone out of the fan’s hands. In the video, several people can also be seen in shock.
Following the incident, the police opened an investigation and released a statement. “As players were leaving the pitch at 2.30 pm, it was reported that a boy was assaulted by one of the away team as they left the pitch,” the Merseyside Police said. “Inquiries are underway, and officers are currently working with Everton Football Club to review CCTV footage and are carrying out extensive witness inquiries to establish if an offense has taken place.”
Later that night, Ronaldo took to social media to address the situation and apologize. “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,” he wrote, extending an invitation to come back and watch another game. “I would like to apologize 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.”
According to CNN, a spokesperson for Everton said that the club attempted to contact the boy’s mother to make the formal invite and “to reassure the boy that incidents like that are not the norm at football matches and hopefully give him a positive memory of visits to Goodison Park.”
However, Sarah Kelly, the mom of 14-year-old Jake Harding, who has autism, has declined Cristiano Ronaldo’s invitation. Kelly told the Liverpool Echo that Ronaldo “assaulted” her son and bruised his hand. “United have handled it terribly, and it’s just made things even worse, to be honest,” she said.
Kelly also described Cristiano’s apology and invitation as “backhanded,” adding, “The way I see it is, if someone assaulted him in the street and then asked us to go around for dinner, we wouldn’t.”
“Just because he’s Cristiano Ronaldo, why would we do it? It’s like we owe him a favor, but I’m sorry, we don’t.”
Kelly added: “We’ve kindly declined the offer to go to United because Jake doesn’t want to go there, and he doesn’t want to see Ronaldo. He’s made that pretty clear,” she said. “They’re not my words; they’re my son’s words. At the end of the day, this is what it’s about. It’s affected him more than it’s affected me, so I have put everything to him to make his own mind up on - he doesn’t want to go to United, he doesn’t want to go to see Ronaldo. All that I’m saying right now is that it’s in the hands of the police.”
As of this writing, the police investigation is still open.