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What's the story?
According to the New York Times, Juventus and Cristiano Ronaldo will not feature in any pre-season games in the US to not risk Ronaldo's arrest due to the ongoing rape investigation against the Portuguese talisman.
In case you didn't know..
With 19 goals and 8 assists, Cristiano Ronaldo is enjoying a historic debut campaign in his first season in the Serie A after moving from Real Madrid to Juventus last summer. The Portuguese talisman singlehandedly led the comeback to help the Bianconeri qualify into the Quarter Finals of the Champions League by scoring a hat-trick against Atletico Madrid.
While things are going well on the pitch for the five time Ballon d'Ore winner, the accusations by an American women led Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department to reopen an investigation featuring the star in a rape case back in 2009.
German magazine Der Spiegel reported it had obtained confidential documents related to the case via Football leaks, which made Las Vegas Police follow the new details of the case. Ronaldo and his lawyers denied the accusations when it resurfaced in September of last year.
Meanwhile, Juventus has a contract to feature in the International Champions Cup, which is a pre-season competition held in US and includes most top clubs in Europe.
The heart of the matter
Juventus has confirmed that they will take part in the pre-season competition to not break their contract.
But according to the report, the organizers of the International Champions Cup(ICC) have decided to not place Juventus' matches in the USA, to ensure that Cristiano Ronaldo does not get detained as a result of the ongoing investigation.
The Old Lady will play all of their ICC fixtures in the pre-season in China and Singapore, with Premier League giants Manchester United and Tottenham also featuring in the competition in those nations.
What's next?
Juventus are set to announce their pre-season fixtures in the coming weeks. They are set to return to action after the International break and will take on Empoli in the Serie A.
