Manchester United will not punish Cristiano Ronaldo following claims that he smashed an Everton fan’s phone.
The Sun have reported that the club have accepted the Portuguese superstar’s apology on social media and are no longer investigating the incident.
The former Real Madrid star was seen in footage knocking a phone out of a boy’s hand as he headed towards the tunnel after Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat at Goodison Park on Saturday.
Despite the club dropping their own investigations, Merseyside Police are looking into the incident after a mother claimed her autistic son was ‘assaulted’ and had his phone smashed by the 37-year-old.
Sarah Kelly claimed son Jacob Harding’s first trip to watch Everton was ‘ruined’ by the alleged altercation which happened as United left the pitch after the match.
Miss Kelly, from Upton, Merseyside, said her 14-year-old son was left with a ‘bruised’ hand after the phone was knocked from his grasp by Ronaldo, as the boy tried to film the United star’s leg wound.
Ronaldo has since apologised for his ‘outburst’ and has invited the boy to watch a match at Old Trafford, but Miss Kelly said the experience has left Jacob wary of going to a football match again.
She said: ‘We were right by the tunnel where they came walking past — my son was there videoing them all. And then he lowered his phone because Ronaldo had pulled down his sock and his leg was bleeding.
‘He lowered his phone to see what it was — he didn’t even speak. Ronaldo then just walked past, with a terrible, terrible temper and smashed the phone out of my son’s hand and carried on walking.’
Miss Kelly took pictures of what she said was Jacob’s bruised hand and smashed phone screen.
The 36-year-old added: ‘You can see by the bruise that he’s made contact. I was crying, I was shook up, Jacob was in complete shock — he’s autistic and he’s got dyspraxia as well, so he didn’t really digest what was happening until we got home. He’s really upset and it’s completely put him off going to the game again.
‘Ronaldo’s a big player. My son’s always been like “Ronaldo’s going to be there” — he’s an icon. I’d understand if Jacob was waving it in his face but he wasn’t near his face, it was down by the floor checking his injury. He’s an autistic boy and he’s been assaulted by a football player, that’s how I see it as a mum.’
