Cristiano Ronaldo’s lawyers have said for the first time that the footballer did pay a woman who accused him of rape €375,000 to settle the allegations made in 2009.

Kathryn Mayorga filed a lawsuit in a state court last year in an effort to have the settlement invalidated on condition that Ronaldo and his legal team took advantage of her fragile emotional state, having accused him of sexually assaulting her after they met on a night out in Las Vegas.

The Juventus footballer denied the allegations and no criminal charges have been filed after Las Vegas prosecutors decided they “cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt”.

Ronaldo’s lawyers have claimed that the pair had consensual sex in June 2009, and have accused Ms Mayorga of attempting to extort the Portuguese footballer.