Earlier this week, Kathryn Mayorga – a former US teacher – took on one of world’s most God-like human beings: a famous footballer.

Mayorga alleges that Cristiano Ronaldo – arguably one of the most instantly recognisable sportsmen in the world – raped her in 2009 in a Las Vegas hotel penthouse suite.

In an interview with the German magazine Der Spiegel last weekend she gave extensive details of her claims. Now, Ronaldo has 20 days to respond after Mayorga’s lawyers filed a lawsuit in a district court in Clark County, Nevada.

Ronaldo denies all allegations made against him, and has since taken to Twitter to protest his innocence.

“I firmly deny the accusations being issued against me,” Ronaldo wrote. “Rape is an abominable crime that goes against everything that I am and believe in. Keen as I may be to clear my name, I refuse to feed the media spectacle created by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense.

“My clear conscious [sic] will thereby allow me to await with tranquillity the results of any and all investigations.”

This response to the Cristiano Ronaldo rape allegation is deeply troubling