Cristiano Ronaldo has issued his first response to the tax fraud complaint made against him, saying sometimes the best answer is "to be quiet".
Ronaldo's representatives have strongly denied an accusation that the Real Madrid forward concealed earnings and defrauded the Spanish tax authorities out of €14.7million.
Madrid expressed "full confidence" in the Portugal international in a statement on Wednesday and the 32-year-old has now issued his own response.
In making his comment on Instagram, Ronaldo, who is preparing for the Confederations Cup, posted an image showing himself in a Portugal t-shirt with his finger to his lips, gesturing silence. The caption read: "Sometimes the best answer it's [sic] to be quiet."
Prosecutors in Madrid filed a complaint to a court in Pozuelo de Alarcon on Tuesday that accused the four-time Ballon d'Or winner of a "voluntary" and "conscious" breach of his tax obligations.
The complaint alleged Ronaldo created a "business structure" in 2010 to conceal earnings from image rights between 2011 and 2014.
However, Gestifute – the company owned by the 32-year-old's agent Jorge Mendes – released a statement detailing their client's arrangements for payments related to his image rights and insisted "there has never been concealment, or the slightest intention to conceal".
Gestifute said the company, Tollin, does not amount to an offshore structure for evading taxes and was established in 2004 when Ronaldo signed for Manchester United.
Madrid have offered him their support and believe he will be proved innocent of any wrongdoing.
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