Protestors flew a banner over Old Trafford during Cristiano Ronaldo’s first game back.
The message ‘Believe Kathryn Mayorga’ was visible during the Portuguese international’s second debut in a red shirt since 2009.
It refers to the allegations of rape made by a woman who says she was sexually assaulted by the star in a Las Vegas hotel room after meeting him at a nightclub in 2009.
Ronaldo maintains the sex was consensual.
Feminist campaign group Level Up claimed responsibility for the stunt and said a ‘culture of silence’ has been created around Ronaldo which must end.
The banner appeared around five minutes into Manchester United’s game against Newcastle on Saturday, in which Ronaldo was part of the starting line-up.
The striker received loud cheers from fans as he took to the pitch before the game, in which he scored two goals in a 4-1 victory.
Janey Starling, co-director of Level Up, said: ‘Manchester United has welcomed Cristiano like a hero, and created a culture of silence about the rape allegations made against him. That ends today.’
In 2019 lawyers representing Ronaldo won a US courtroom bid to block Ms Mayorga from digging into the validity of a confidentiality agreement made between them in 2010 in which she was paid 375,000 dollars.
Ms Mayorga, from Nevada, gave consent through her lawyers in 2018 to be identified.
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