Cristiano Ronaldo become involved in a public row with Italy's sports minister on Friday as the pair indirectly accused each other of lying over whether the Portugal international had broken health rules after testing positive for COVID-19, reports Reuters.
Vincenzo Spadafora said on Thursday the Juventus forward might have infringed the rules by flying back to Italy from national team duty in Portugal after he tested positive for the virus earlier this week.
But in a social media post on Friday, Ronaldo hit back and said he had done everything by the book.
"A gentlemen here in Italy, whose name I won't mention, said I didn't obey the protocol - that's simply a lie," said Ronaldo in an Instagram post from his Turin villa, where he is in quarantine and asymptomatic.
"I followed all the protocols and I will continue to follow them, my conscience is clear. Everything I did was authorised."
The 35-year-old Ronaldo tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday while he was with the Portugal squad and flew back in a private jet the following day. "They said I broke Italian law and this and it's all lies, I did everything properly," he added. "We did everything the right way -- leaving the (Portugal) team, in the air ambulance, arriving in Turin, I did not have contact with anyone."