Allegations that Spanish national goalkeeper David De Gea is involved in sexually assaulting a woman in a party has caused uproar in Spain just before the start of the Euro2016 campaign in France.
David De Gea has denied the accusations of organising a meeting between two footballers and two women, one of whom claims they were both sexually assaulted by the men.
Spanish newspaper El Diario reports that the allegations emerged in a statement given by a protected witness in a rape case against pornography producer Ignacio Fernandez Allende – also known as Torbe. Torbe has been in jail since last April on charges related to prostitution, human trafficking for sexual exploitation, sexual assault, child pornography, extortion and money laundering.
The documents, which have been published by El Diario, state that De Gea was not one of those present at the meeting.
De Gea has responded to the allegations after speaking with his lawyers, and said that he has no knowledge of the girls involved or of the case.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, the same day as the start of Euro 2016 where De Gea is due to represent Spain, De Gea said: “The first person who was surprised by this news story was me. It’s a lie.”
Spanish police investigating the case claim that the witness’ statement was “highly credible”.
According to AS, the Spanish police’s report on the witness’ statement states the following:
Neither De Gea’s representatives, Manchester United nor Spain would comment on the reports.De Gea was expected to be Spain’s first-choice goalkeeper at Euro 2016 after serving as deputy to Iker Casillas at the 2014 World Cup, having being named United’s Player of the Season for the third consecutive year last month.
The Spain squad will hold a press conference on Friday evening. It is not thought that De Gea will be in attendance.
The protected witness claims she was taken by two footballers, one being Athletic Bilbao’s Iker Muniain, to a hotel room, where they allegedly assaulted her after Torbe head forced her into the encounter against her will. The incident is alleged to have happened in 2012.
Muniain’s agent has said that the authorities have not made an attempt to contact either him or Muniain and that Spanish police have not asked for any information.

Source: Independent