Ronaldo, the Brazilian football star, is at the centre of a police investigation after a night on the town ended with an argument in a motel room after he discovered that three prostitutes he had allegedly hired were transvestites.

Ronaldo had been spending Sunday evening celebrating a victory by Flamengo, the local team he supported as a boy, in the Rio state football championship.

After attending the game the 31-year-old AC Milan player, who is recovering from a knee injury, went to a nightclub in the Barra de Tijuca neighbourhood, a nouveau riche enclave favoured by footballers and Brazilian soap opera stars. He reportedly left the club at about 4am and soon afterwards picked up a prostitute on a nearby avenue.

They went to a nearby sex motel, where the prostitute called two more friends to join them. Ronaldo told police that they offered him cocaine, which he refused, and that on discovering that the three were transvestites, he offered each £300 to leave and keep the story from the press.

Two reportedly accepted the cash but the third man, André Luís Ribeiro Albertino, known as Andréia Albertini, argued that Ronaldo did not pay the amount agreed for his services. An argument ensued and the police were called. Mr Ribeiro Albertino claims that Ronaldo became annoyed after his two colleagues took £300 from the player to go and buy cocaine but never returned. The player has denied Mr Ribeiro Albertino's version of events and told police that the prostitute was trying to extort £15,000 to hush up that he had hired transvestites.

Mr Ribeiro Albertino says he did not realise that his client was Ronaldo until he was already in the player's car.

According to him, when he pointed out that they had not yet agreed a price, Ronaldo told him to relax: “Money is not a problem for me.”

Mr Ribeiro Albertino said that Ronaldo had been drinking and told him that he had left his girlfriend at home before going back out. The argument between the two broke out at about 8 o'clock on Monday morning.

Police say they will investigate the incident fully but that they are inclined to believe the footballer's version of events. Carlos Augusto Nogueira, the officer in charge of the case, was quoted in the Folha de S. Paulo newspaper as saying that the incident was “at most something immoral”.

In an interview with the newspaper, Mr Ribeiro Albertino said that he was terrified because Ronaldo was influential and powerful: “He told me that he was Ronaldo and I was just a street piranha.”

Hey, good looking

— In 1997 the comedian Eddie Murphy was stopped by sheriff’s deputies for picking up a transvestite prostitute. Murphy claimed he was suffering from insomnia and was trying to help a girl by giving her a lift home

— Led Zeppelin bass player John Paul Jones’s experiences with a transvestite named Stephanie inspired the 1976 song Royal Orleans. After smoking marijuana with her in a hotel room Jones woke up to find himself surrounded by firemen. They had set the room alight

— Last year Italian government spokesman Silvio Sircana wrote a letter to La Stampa refusing to resign in light of photographs showing him in conversation with a provocatively posed transvestite in stilettos and hot pants. “A man should not be crucified for the silliness of a single night” he wrote

— The Kinks’ 1970 hit Lola is rumoured to have been inspired by the experiences of band manager Robert Wace, who spent a night fawning over a beautiful woman. “We left at six in the morning” Ray Davies is reported to have recounted, “and then I said, ‘Have you seen the stubble?’”

Times archives

Explore Football

• Premier League

• Football League

• Scotland

• European Football

• International Football

• TheGame

• Live Match Tracker

• The Fink Tank

• Fantasy Football