London, Dec 14 : Cristiano Ronaldo and married beauty Alyona Haynes are an item, her best friend has confirmed.

"She is dating Ronaldo and she's very happy," the Mirror quoted Marina Borisenko, 25, in her home city of Odessa in Ukraine, as saying.

"His appeal is that he's famous and good-looking. That's the first thing you are interested in with someone new. But obviously because they are in a relationship, it's something more than that. She feels him as a person," Marina added.

Alyona had, apparently, asked her pals to keep mum about the relationship in case it jeopardises her chances of becoming a fully-fledged WAG.

However, Marina, who regularly speaks to the friend she has known since the age of 10, can't hide her pride.

And she insisted that 25-year-old Alyona's marriage to wealthy John Haynes was on the rocks before she met the Man United star.

"She was a wonderful wife to John and she was a very good friend to his daughter from his previous marriage," she said.

"It happens that couples break up - there's nothing exceptional about that. Sometimes there is a crisis in relationships and probably it happened with them," she added.

She also denied the break-up was connected with Ronaldo, who met Selfridges fashion assistant Alyona at an expensive Cheshire restaurant. (ANI)