The German magazine that reported a rape allegation made against Cristiano Ronaldo says it has "no reason" to doubt the authenticity of documents used in its story.
Ronaldo, 33, denies assaulting Kathryn Mayorga at a Las Vegas hotel in 2009.
Lawyers representing the Juventus player said this week that documents had been "completely fabricated".
But Der Spiegel said: "We have hundreds of documents from different sources that substantiate our reporting."
VERSIONS OF THE TRUTH
"The statement that was issued by [Ronaldo's lawyer] Peter Christiansen on behalf of Cristiano Ronaldo presents the usual path that Mr Ronaldo and his lawyers have taken in the past when unsuccessfully fighting our investigative work."
The magazine's story centres on a questionnaire, which it says came from Ronaldo's lawyers, in which the Portugal international admits Mayorga, 34, said "no" and "stop" during the alleged attack.
In a statement released midweek, Christiansen said the documents were "pure inventions" and the result of a 2015 cyber attack, during which "electronic data was stolen" from "dozens of entities (including law firms) in different parts of Europe".
Der Spiegel responded by saying: "In our article, we quote two versions of a document with statements by Mr Ronaldo.
"The first version of this questionnaire, in which Ronaldo is quoted as saying that Ms Mayorga said 'no' and 'stop', is consistent with many details of Ms Mayorga's description of the incident.
APOLOGY AND PAYMENT
"Both also state that he apologised to her afterwards. In a later version of this questionnaire, Mr Ronaldo denies the accusation of rape and denies apologising to Ms Mayorga." Christiansen said his client's position continues to be that "what happened in 2009 in Las Vegas was completely consensual".
Mayorga's lawyers have now called for any documents to be handed over to "the appropriate law-enforcement agencies" to help resolve any discrepancies. They added they wanted to review any evidence that showed documents had been altered or fabricated.
Der Spiegel believes Ronaldo's representatives changed their narrative regarding the alleged payment that was made to Mayorga by Ronaldo's lawyers in 2010.
Mayorga, who the magazine says filed a report with Las Vegas police shortly after the alleged incident, reportedly reached an out-of-court settlement with Ronaldo involving a $375,000 payment for agreeing never to go public with the allegations.
Christiansen says Ronaldo does not deny he entered into an agreement, but "the reasons that led him to do so are at least to be distorted". He added: "This agreement is by no means a confession of guilt."
Der Spiegel said: "When we published an article about the settlement agreement between Ms Mayorga and Mr Ronaldo in 2017, his advisors called it 'nothing but a piece of journalistic fiction'.
"Now, Mr Ronaldo admits that he agreed to that settlement."..