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Cristiano Ronaldo's rape allegation sparks concern among Nike and EA Sports

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One of the biggest football stars in the world, Cristiano Ronaldo's career is hit by the latest rape allegation, as his sponsors Nike has expressed "deep concern", and EA Sports has been closely monitoring the situation over the case, according to various reports.A woman alleged she was raped by the Portuguese footballer in 2009 in a hotel room in Las Vegas. Ronaldo earlier has "firmly" denied the case and dismissed as "fake news". In an Instagram video, Ronaldo said "people want to promote themselves by using my name. It's normal."However, Nike, one of Ronaldo's sponsors, said in a statement that the company was deeply concerned by the disturbing allegation and will continue to closely monitor the situation. Nike signed Ronaldo in 2003 and in 2016, it extended its long-term partnership, which was reportedly a lifetime deal among both parties.Also, EA Sports said it is closely monitoring the situation, and it "expects cover athletes and ambassadors to conduct themselves in a manner that is consistent with EA's values." Recently, EA Sports FIFA's Twitter account swapped an image of Ronaldo for an image of the FIFA 19 logo with accompanying review quotes. According to Eurogamer, EA Sports updated its social banners for certain marketing beats.German magazine Der Spiegel was the first to report the case. Ronaldo's lawyers have previously said they will sue Der Spiegel magazine over its reporting, according to BBC. Juventus F.C., Ronaldo's club in Italy, backed the forward on Twitter, but he is not included in the Portugal national football team's latest squad for this month's internationals against Poland and Scotland.

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