Football
Ben Gladwell, Italy correspondent 5y

Cristiano Ronaldo to continue playing despite rape claim - Massimiliano Allegri

Juventus coach Massimilaino Allegi will continue to play Cristiano Ronaldo amid a police investigation into a rape allegation against the Portuguese star.

Allegri said at a news conference Friday that there is no reason to take Ronaldo out of the lineup and rest him for Saturday's clash with Genoa. Ronaldo has a 100 percent appearance record for the Bianconeri in Serie A and has scored four and set up five in his eight Serie A games this season..

"He's very calm and working well, and I'm not the one to respond to things that don't concern me because they are personal," Allegri said at a news conference on Friday. "Besides, he's arrived here with great humility and settled in well, giving attention and a sense of responsibility to a side who have always had this.

"He's scoring goals too, which is what he does best, in addition to the assists."

Ronaldo is the focus of a criminal investigation in Las Vegas, accused of rape, with police re-opening a case from 2009. He has denied the accusations on Twitter, labelling it an "abominable crime" and that the claim is being made "by people seeking to promote themselves at my expense."

Juve have won eight Serie A matches in a row and and sit six points ahead of Napoli, although Allegri is urging caution ahead of a busy schedule which includes a trip to Old Trafford in midweek, to face Ronaldo's former club Manchester United.

"[Serie A]'s not boring," he said. "There are lots of points to play for and we need to keep winning, which is not easy. Moments like these are dangerous because when you are on a run of 10 straight wins, then you start to believe [that you can win them all].

"Everybody is saying that Juve are going to win all their games from now until June 1. It's not like this. Tomorrow we have a difficult game and we've beaten Genoa by more than 1-0 only once in the past four years.

"We're now faced with a run of six games in which we are playing for a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League and some league games in which we can steal a few points [over our rivals] -- there's no hiding from it: Inter play Milan tomorrow so a win would enable us to move further ahead of one rival and put pressure on Napoli."

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