Photo of Ronaldo's nude girlfriend

Cristiano Ronaldo’s girlfriend Irina Shayk is at the centre of a huge row – after nude photos of her were published in a magazine.

The 24-year-old Russian beauty’s agents threatened to sue Spanish GQ over the pictures, which they claim have been digitally altered.

But the magazine insists the underwear model happily stripped off – and has threatened legal action against Irina’s agents Elite.

Irina has been dating £200,000-a-week footie star Ronaldo, 25, since May. The stunning brunette posed for GQ in Madrid on November 4 and the magazine published 14 sexy photographs and an interview this week.

The front cover shows her smoking a cigarette over the headline: “The most beautiful animal in the world. Do you want to discover Ronaldo’s girlfriend naked?”

Inside she appears in a series of photographs in lingerie, and in five pictures she seems to be wearing no knickers.

One shows her outdoors in just a pair of high heels, and two others only wearing knee-length socks.

Gael Marie, director of Elite models in Spain, said: “She’s the victim of photographic retouching and negligence by GQ Spain. It wasn’t planned for her to appear naked.”

Mr Marie said the photos “damaged and harmed the model’s image” and added: “It’s obvious the headline was designed with the sole aim of selling more copies.”

The editor of the magazine Javier Fernandez de Angulo, who was present during the photo-shoot, hit back, saying: “The model took her clothes off completely naturally.

“Maybe she”s annoyed because we put on the front cover that she’s Ronaldo’s girlfriend, and she asked us to avoid that.”

Ironically during the interview Irina says you don’t have to be naked to feel sexy.

She said: “I feel very sexy when I’m wearing lingerie.

“You don’t have to be naked to feel sexy.

“I think the power of seduction is within every woman, but of course I feel more sexy wearing lingerie.”