A warrant has been issued by the Las Vegas authorities to obtain the DNA of Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo to see if it matches with the one found on the dress of a model who accused him of rape in 2009. The warrant has been sent to the court system in Italy, where Ronaldo resides.

The alleged victim Kathryn Mayorga has said in a lawsuit that Ronaldo raped her in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2009. However, Ronaldo and his attorneys have denied the allegations, stating that the affair was a consensual one. “Mr. Ronaldo has always maintained, as he does today, that what occurred in Las Vegas in 2009 was consensual in nature, so it is not surprising that DNA would be present, nor that the police would make this very standard request as part of their investigation,” said one of the attorneys of the footballer.

Even though Mayorga filed a report with the Las Vegas police shortly after the alleged incident in 2009, the case was closed as she refused to take the name of the assailant. The police investigation was reopened at the model’s request last August, shortly before she filed a civil lawsuit in a state court claiming that Ronaldo raped her and that she had been paid $375,000, which forbade her from discussing the incident to anyone. Her civil complaint states that the rape occurred in 2009 at a Las Vegas resort after Ronaldo invited her over to his suite.

Ronaldo is one of the most famous sportspersons in the world. He has won the Ballon d'Or, which is awarded to the world's best footballer, five times. He currently plays for the Italian club Juventus, which signed him in a $92 million transfer last summer.