Cristiano Ronaldo's sister has called the Manchester United forward "the most beautiful human being" after he smashed a phone out of a fan's hand.
The incident happened during United's 1-0 defeat to Everton on Saturday afternoon. Ronaldo and his team-mates were being filmed by Jake Harding - a 14-year-old boy who has autism and dyspraxia - as they made their way down the tunnel at Goodison Park.
Jake's mum Sarah has since told the Liverpool ECHO her son was ' left with a bruise' on his hand following Ronaldo's outburst. The Portuguese star has apologised and Merseyside Police are investigating reports a boy was allegedly assaulted by a United player.
Ronaldo's sister Elma Aveiro took to social media to mount a defence of her brother. She insists he "doesn’t have to prove anything to anyone" at this stage of his career. She went on to write: "You give the answer afterwards to shut everyone up."
It's unclear if Elma's remarks were a reaction to the incident or the negative comments about his form. Ronaldo has scored just four Premier League goals this calendar year.
Elma still lives in Ronaldo's native Portuguese island of Madeira and has a habit of sticking up for him, along with his other sister Katia and their mum Dolores. Emla wrote on Instagram alongside a photo of her and Ronaldo: "My great and perfect love.
"The most beautiful human being I’ve known in the world. All my family are an example of love and respect. A light that only bothers those who live in darkness... my dear brother, you don’t have to prove anything to anyone and you give the answer afterwards to shut everyone up. I love you a lot. The rest is the rest."
Ronaldo apologised for the incident on Saturday evening. "It’s never easy to deal with emotions in difficult moments such as the one we are facing," he wrote on Instagram. "Nevertheless, we always have to be respectful, patient and set the example for all the youngsters who love the beautiful game.
"I would like to apologise for my outburst and, if possible, I would like to invite this supporter to watch a game at Old Trafford as a sign of fair-play and sportsmanship."
Jake's mum Sarah was not impressed with Ronaldo's apology. "The way I see it is, if someone assaulted him in the street and then asked us to go around for dinner, we wouldn’t," she told the ECHO. "Just because he’s Cristiano Ronaldo, why would we do it?
"It’s like we owe him a favour, but I’m sorry, we don’t. We’ve kindly declined the offer to go to United because Jake doesn’t want to go there and he doesn’t want to see Ronaldo. He’s made that pretty clear.
"They're not my words, they’re my son’s words. At the end of the day, this is what it’s about. It’s affected him more than it’s affected me, so I have put everything to him to make his own mind up on - he doesn’t want to go to United, he doesn’t want to go to see Ronaldo. All that I’m saying right now is that it’s in the hands of the police."
