Cristiano Ronaldo was missing from a Juventus photoshoot for the team’s main sponsor – as club’s share price plummeted after the rape allegations against him.
Senior players such as Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini took part in the shoot on Wednesday which showcased the new Jeep Compass car.
The pictures were taken at the Juventus Training Centre in Turin where the £100million superstar, the club’s record signing, was seen practising with his teammates earlier in the day.
However, Ronaldo was mysteriously absent from the pictures as £76million has been wiped off the club’s share value following the allegations that the Portuguese captain raped a model in a Las Vegas hotel suite in 2009.
The accusation is also deeply worrying for the Agnelli family – who own both Juventus and Jeep’s parent firm Fiat Chrysler.
Despite Ronaldo, 33, entering the twilight of his career, the Italian club’s owners did not think twice about putting pen to paper on the mega-deal to bring one of the world’s most marketable athletes to Turin.
The handsome forward left Real Madrid after winning four Champions League titles – a trophy which Juventus has lifted only twice in their history – and becoming their record scorer with 451 goals in 438 games.
His signing saw the club’s share price jump by up to 35 per cent as fans clambered to see one of the game’s all time great players wear the team’s famed black and white stripes.
Ronaldo’s marketing value, before the rape scandal hit the headlines, was further enhanced by his huge social media presence with 74.5 million fans on Twitter and 134 million Instagram followers.
That’s compared to Juventus’ 6 million Twitter fans and Jeep’s one million followers on the micro-blogging site.
Nike was the first of the star’s major commercial partners to intervene since the bombshell allegations emerged on Saturday.
The sportswear giant said it is “deeply concerned by the disturbing allegations and will continue to closely monitor the situation”.
EA Sports use Ronaldo as the face of their huge Fifa gaming franchise – with this year’s latest edition featuring the Juve ace on the cover.