It is a crying shame that Ronaldo, the Brazilian football idol, did not actually have sex with any of the transvestite hookers he took back to a hotel room in Rio in the early hours of Monday morning. Had the AC Milan forward actually followed through with his cross-dressing companions, it might have had the effect of dragging football - one of the last great bastions of homophobia - into the 21st century.

Instead, the striker, on discovering that his consorts were not quite what they seemed, asked them to leave. The incident made its way into the public domain only because one of the three prostitutes refused Ronaldo's offer of £300 to keep schtum. According to the two-time World Cup winner, one of the men (a blond going by the name Andréia Albertini) attempted to extort money. There was an argument and the police were called - which led to the involvement of the press.

Football fan forums have gyrated between amusement at Ronaldo's predicament and sympathy from those who have found themselves in similar situations. “Has this never happened to you?” asked one blogger on LFC Online. “No, but I once met a girl called Lola,” replied another. The fact that Ronaldo picked up the hookers after dropping off his girlfriend has hardly figured in commentary, indicative, perhaps, that cheating on WAGs has become so widespread as to be unobjectionable.

Ronaldo is unquestionably one of the finest footballers of modern times. Born in an impoverished neighbourhood in Rio, he rose to prominence in Brazilian club football before being signed by PSV Eindhoven in 1994. He has since played for a string of European clubs, including Barcelona, Inter and Real Madrid, where he played alongside David Beckham.

His international career has been immense. He played in two World Cup finals, on the second occasion leading Brazil to victory over Germany in Japan in 2002, a competition in which he also won the Golden Boot for scoring more goals than any other player. He is one of only two men to win the World Player of the Year Award three times.

Ronaldo's personal life has generated almost as many column inches as his football career - particularly in Brazil, where he has had a succession of high-profile relationships with TV personalities and supermodels. His marriage to Milene Domingues, a former model, ended in divorce after four years.

Of course, had Ronaldo been caught having gay sex (with or without prostitutes), it would have been one of the biggest football stories of modern times. We can only hope, then, that the next time a footballer gets into a compromising position with a bunch of transvestites, he does the decent thing.

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