USA’s Alex Morgan has doubled down on her criticism of Cristiano Ronaldo, ahead of a possible meeting at the FIFA Best Awards later this month.
The World Cup winner tweeted a story about Ronaldo which was headlined ‘Ronaldo Is an Icon of Corruption in Sports’, along with her caption which said “Now this is great journalism.”
The piece on Vice came soon after news that the Portuguese forward would not face criminal charges over an alleged rape in 2009.
Morgan and Ronaldo are set to meet face-to-face on September 23 in Milan when they challenge for ‘The Best FIFA Women’s Player’ and ‘The Best FIFA Men’s Player’, respectively.
“I don’t anticipate approaching him any differently than I would approach anyone else who I meet.
“I do think that a lot of times in today’s climate women have spoken up, and it’s important to support those women. And I think a lot of people right now are questioning who is right and who is wrong.
“When you look at [Ronaldo’s] story in particular, I think there’s too much evidence to cover up, and I think at the end of the day money helps put stories down.
“The [criminal] charges were dropped, so he can and does continue playing. And he’s not the only person that this is happening to, but he is one of if not the most famous footballer in the world right now, so obviously he’s garnering attention on this.
“So I feel like this was one thing that I did speak out about— very minimally, to say the least —but I think it’s important to continue to support women who are in vulnerable and scary situations where they don’t have a lot of support.
“For me, I was surprised reading many, many articles and following along, and I decided in that moment to speak out via tweet. I definitely got a lot of hate for it, and I think that is from his fans.
“That’s not to say that I don’t think he’s one of the best footballers in the world, but that has nothing to do with it.
“What he does as a job and him entertaining people on the football field has nothing to do with who he might be as a person or the actions that he may have taken,” Morgan told Sports Illustrated.
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