Ronaldo apologised after he smashed a fan’s phone on Saturday
The parent of an Everton fan whose phone was smashed by Cristiano Ronaldo has slammed the forward’s apology to the 14-year-old.
Following Manchester United’s 1-0 defeat to Everton at Goodison Park, Ronaldo began to walk down the tunnel cutting a frustrated figure.
Jake Kelly, who was attending his first game and suffers from autism and dyspraxia, was filming the players walking off the pitch.
He then lowered his phone to show a leg injury suffered to Ronaldo before the forward smashed the phone out of his hand.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been accused of smashing a fan’s phone after Man United’s defeat to Everton 😬
🎥 @evertonhub pic.twitter.com/pTWgUpkLCa— FootballJOE (@FootballJOE) April 9, 2022
Jake’s mother, Sarah, said that her son was left unable to sleep at night and had also suffered pain to his thumb and bruising to his hand.
Ronaldo has since posted a message of apology to Jake and invited the youngster to watch a game at Old Trafford as a way of saying sorry, while Merseyside Police have also confirmed they are investigating the incident.
Jake’s mother, Sarah, was not impressed by Ronaldo’s apology
However the apology has not been received well by Jake’s mother, as she explained that she was expecting more of a personal message from the forward.
“The apology or lack of apology was what angered me even more,” she told Telegraph Sport.
“I thought, ‘How rude – you are telling everybody you have apologised and you haven’t’. OK, you have put it out to social media but …you should be apologising to my son.
“He [Ronaldo] had several hours to ponder on it. He should have found out our contact details… been private, said he had spoken to us and released something. I would have been happy with that.”
Sarah also expected more from Man United
Sarah also said that expected more from the club as well in the way of apologies.
“He has released what he has released. I was quite shocked United hadn’t put a statement out asking us to get in touch, just something a bit heartfelt, rather than Ronaldo saying the supporter can come to me,” she added.
“That comes across really, really rude to me. Why would we, as Everton fans, go to United? He put, ‘this supporter’. It doesn’t state if he was an Everton supporter or a United supporter. It’s just a very, very weak apology in my opinion.
“It was our first time [together at football]. Jacob is obsessed with Everton and football. It’s his passion. It just took a complete shine off the game, the win, the experience. I’m not even thinking of the day I had with him, the nice time before the incident. I’m just thinking of the last five seconds. It has completely spoilt it. It’s shocking.”
Telegraph Sport have since stated that both Ronaldo and United have personally contacted Jake and his family to apologise.
Related links:
- Police investigating after Cristiano Ronaldo appears to break fan’s phone
- Cristiano Ronaldo offers fan trip to Old Trafford as Merseyside police issue statement
- Man United set to investigate Cristiano Ronaldo ‘phone smash’ incident
