An investigation into an alleged rape and sexual assault in Stockholm, which Swedish media said targeted Real Madrid forward Kylian Mbappe, has been closed due to insufficient evidence, a Swedish prosecutor said on Thursday.
Frenchman Mbappe, 25, one of world football’s highest-profile players, visited the Swedish capital with a group of people on October 9-11 after being left out of his country’s squad for a Nations League match.
Sweden’s prosecuting authority announced on October 15 that it was investigating an alleged incident that occurred on October 10 at an upscale hotel in Stockholm, without naming the suspect.
Several Swedish media outlets, including the newspapers Aftonbladet and Expressen and the public broadcaster SVT, identified Mbappé as a suspect.
“My assessment is that the evidence is not sufficient to proceed further and therefore the investigation has been closed,” prosecutor Marina Chirkova said in a statement. Mbappé’s name has not even been mentioned in the statement.
Ms Chirakova said the person concerned was not interrogated and “was not informed of his suspicion of a crime”.
“Based on what has emerged in the case, I have concluded that new evidence, including the questioning of the person concerned, will not change the state of the evidence at this time,” he told AFP.
He said his team had nevertheless “conducted a large number of interviews in the investigation”.
The plaintiff’s lawyer, Petra Eklund, who has not been named, told AFP she had “no comment” on the news that the case had been closed.
Mbappe’s lawyer said in October that he was “shocked” to see his name linked to the investigation.
Speaking for the first time about the case on Sunday, he told the French television show Click that he was “not involved in it”.
“I did not receive anything, no summons… I am not involved in this,” he said.
According to Aftonbladet, Mbappe and his entourage dined at a restaurant one evening before heading to a nightclub.
According to the newspaper, the complaint was filed on October 12 after the alleged victim sought medical help.
Expressen said police seized some clothing as evidence, including women’s underwear, a pair of black trousers and a black top. Pictures showed police officers leaving the hotel with brown bags.
tough weather
Mbappe joined Madrid this summer after seven years at Paris Saint-Germain and has remained far from scandal in his personal life.
The forward, who is known for carefully managing his image through a close network of family, lawyers and spokespeople, has become one of the world’s highest-paid players after an illustrious career that began when he was in his teens. had just started.
He has had a difficult season since moving from PSG to reigning European champions Real Madrid in the summer and has failed to find his top form.
However, the Frenchman scored in Madrid’s 3-2 win against Italian team Atalanta on Tuesday, reviving Real’s promising bid to clinch the Champions League title.
Mbappe, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham were all on the scoresheet in Bergamo as Madrid moved up to 20th in the Champions League table with nine points from six matches.
Had the Spanish giants lost they would have been in danger of missing out on the Champions League play-off places.
Mbappe won the World Cup as a teenager in Russia in 2018 and scored a hat-trick in the 2022 final in Qatar, which France lost on penalties to Lionel Messi’s Argentina.
At PSG he was part of a superstar trio with Messi and Brazilian forward Neymar, but the Qatar-owned club was unable to win the Champions League.
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