Italian Seria A club Juventus’ shares dropped sharply on Friday after they faced criticism in their handling of a rape allegation made against the team’s star signing Cristiano Ronaldo.
Read: Football Star Cristiano Ronaldo Facing Life Imprisonment If Charged And Found Guilty Of Rape
34-year-old American woman, Kathryn Mayorga, from Nevada accused the star of raping her in the penthouse suite of a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.
Ronaldo has since denied the allegation and has his lawyers are saying they will sue German magazine, Der Spiegel who first published the story.
The Italian side signed the Portugal captain from Real Madrid for 112m euro (£99m; $130) in July – a move which helped the club’s share price soar 180% to a peak of more than 1.80 euro a share in September.
But at the close of markets on Friday, they had dropped to 1.19 euro which translates to 9.92% drop.
It comes after both sports companies, EA Sports and Nike, who have lucrative sponsorship deals with Ronaldo, said they were ‘monitoring the situation closely’.
The club’s Twitter handle had earlier posted a message in solidarity with Ronaldo saying:
.@Cristiano Ronaldo has shown in recent months his great professionalism and dedication, which is appreciated by everyone at Juventus. 1/1
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) October 4, 2018
The events allegedly dating back to almost 10 years ago do not change this opinion, which is shared by anyone who has come into contact with this great champion. 2/2
— JuventusFC (@juventusfcen) October 4, 2018
Former England international and football pundit Gary Lineker described the series of tweets as “awful”.
Other users labelled had mixed views about the posts. While some called it “abhorrent” and asked Juventus to apologise, other replies defended the posts.
An investigation into the case has been reportedly re-opened.