Amid Phone Smashing Incident, Cristiano Ronaldo Goes 'Undercover' After Man Utd Training

Manchester United striker Cristiano Ronaldo attempted to hide on Tuesday following the controversy regarding the smashing of a fan’s phone during their Saturday game against Everton at Goodison Park.

Ronaldo appeared to go undercover in the back of his car, keeping a low profile as he left Carrington training base on Tuesday, just days after being involved in a phone smashing incident.

The 37-year-old footballer is alleged to have hit a phone out of the hand of a 14-year-old Everton fan, Jake Harding, after the Man Utd loss at Goodison Park. An enraged Ronaldo was seen trudging down the tunnel following their 1-0 defeat, photos of him slapping the device to the floor went viral across social media.

Ronaldo has issued a public apology to the teenager supporter through his Instagram handle. "I would like to apologise 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."

However, Harding's mother, Sarah Kelly, revealed that her son has chosen to decline Ronaldo's apology while condemning Man Utd's handling of the incident, "United have handled it terribly, and it's just made things even worse, to be honest. 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. Just because he’s Cristiano Ronaldo, why would we do it? It’s like we owe him a favour, but I’m sorry, we don’t."

The mother continued, "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."

"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."

According to Harding’s mother, her son is autistic and has dyspraxia as well, "so he didn’t really digest what was happening until he’s come home now. He’s really upset about it and it’s completely put him off going to the game again." It was revealed to be Harding’s first experience watching a football game.

Meanwhile, Merseyside Police and the Football Association are investigating the incident. Man Utd claimed that they will not be punishing the Portuguese player, according to reports Old Trafford bosses are satisfied with his apology but have promised to assist the police in the ongoing investigation.

Ronaldo's older sister, Elma Aveiro, showed support and defended the five-time Ballon d'Or winner, calling him "the most beautiful human being" after the shocking moment. Aveiro has a habit of sticking up for him along with his other sister Katia and their mother, Dolores.