World Cup-winning French footballer Benjamin Mendy broke down in tears on Friday as he was cleared in court of two sex offences.
Mendy, 28, put his head on his knees and wiped away tears as the verdicts were returned at Chester Crown Court in north-west England.
He was found not guilty of raping a young woman and trying to rape a second woman by the jury, which deliberated for three hours and 15 minutes.
The footballer's lawyer, Jenny Wiltshire, said he thanked the jury “for focusing on the evidence in this trial, rather than on the rumour and innuendo that have followed this case from the outset”.
“This is the second time that Mr Mendy has been tried and found not guilty by a jury. He is delighted that both juries reached the correct verdicts,” she said.
“It has been almost three years since the police started investigating this matter. Mr Mendy has tried to remain strong but the process has, inevitably had a serious impact on him.
“He thanks everyone who has supported him throughout this ordeal and now asks for privacy so he can begin rebuilding his life.”
Mendy, a former Manchester City player, was cleared of attacking a 24-year-old woman at his £4.2 million mansion in Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire, in October 2020.
The jury also found him not guilty of the second charge, the attempted rape of a 29-year-old woman also at his home two years before.
Mendy told the jury of six women and six men, that any sexual activity was consensual.
Trial Judge Stephen Everett, the Recorder of Chester, thanked jurors after discharging Mendy from the dock.
Mendy was on trial for a second time, after a previous jury failed to reach verdicts on the allegations made by the two women.
In his first trial, lasting six months and ending in January, he was cleared of six counts of rape and one count of sexual assault, relating to four other young women or teenagers.
Prosecutor Benjamin Aina told the jury in the retrial Mendy enjoyed parties at his home and on two occasions “took advantage” of his female guests and his wealth and celebrity status turned him into a man not used to being told “no”, by women.
