Madrid sues paper over Ronaldo allegations

MADRID - Real Madrid said on Thursday it had filed a lawsuit against a Portuguese newspaper that claimed the Spanish giant pushed Cristiano Ronaldo to hush up an alleged rape case.

Real has taken legal action against Correio da Manha after the paper on Wednesday reported that the club "pressured Ronaldo to sign" a nondisclosure agreement and pay compensation to his accuser, Kathryn Mayorga.

"Real Madrid has absolutely no knowledge of any of the information that the newspaper published with regard to the player Cristiano Ronaldo, and therefore the club could not have taken action on a matter of which it had no knowledge," the club said in a statement.