Boy ‘assaulted’ by Cristiano Ronaldo declines invitation to Old Trafford

The fan whose phone Cristiano Ronaldo angrily smashed to the floor at the weekend following Manchester United’s 1-0 loss to Everton has rejected the ex-Real Madrid superstar’s offer to go watch a game at Old Trafford.
As the 37-year-old made his way down the tunnel after the Red Devils were defeated by the Toffees on Saturday, Ronaldo appeared to take his frustration out on a young Everton supporter, who was said to be attending his first football game.
The United No. 7 aggressively smacked the 14-year-old boy’s phone out of his clutches and to the floor, leaving bruises on the kid’s hand, with his mother later revealing her son was left traumatised by the incident.
Later that night, Ronaldo took to social media to address the situation and apologize. “It’s never easy to deal with emotions in difficult moments such as the one we are facing. Nevertheless, we always have to be respectful, patient and set the example for all the youngsters who love the beautiful game,” he wrote, extending an invitation to come back and watch another game. “I would like to apologize 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.”
Police are understood to be looking into the matter, while the 20-time English champions decided not to punish the player as they believed his apology put out on social media was satisfactory.
However, Sarah Kelly, the mom of 14-year-old Jake Harding, who has autism, has declined Cristiano Ronaldo’s invitation. Kelly told the Liverpool Echo that Ronaldo “assaulted” her son and bruised his hand. “United have handled it terribly, and it’s just made things even worse, to be honest,” she said.
Kelly also described Cristiano’s apology and invitation as “backhanded,” adding, “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.”
Kelly added: “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,” she said. “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.”