Cristiano Ronaldo, who makes as many headlines for the company he keeps as for his brilliant play on the soccer field, nearly had it all taken away from him this morning when he ran his Ferrari into a wall near the Manchester airport.

Thankfully for United fans, Ronaldo escaped with nothing but a bruised sense of invincibilty. But the £200,000 car wasn’t so lucky – it’s a total loss. It appears as if it was a one-car accident, and that alcohol was not a factor. Ronaldo had played as a substitute in last night’s loss to Derby County.

THE SUN has the details from the crash scene:

Ronaldo was able to get out of the vehicle himself and was spoken to by police at the scene after the smash at 10.20am.

A witness said: “The front of Ronaldo’s car was completely mangled. There was metal all over the road and debris - and we had to dodge our way through it.”

“Ronaldo was just standing at the side of the road looking forlorn and bewildered.”

The BBC reported that one of the wheels flew off the car and came to rest 200 yards behind the car.

In the aftermath of the coverage, The GUARDIAN posted a bizarre poll asking readers:

Even if nobody’s been hurt, is it unacceptable to derive amusement from the sight of a Premier League star’s pride and joy lying in a crumpled, twisted heap?

As of the writing of this, 75% of respondents believed it was just fine to laugh at Ronaldo’s misery.

Manchester United maintains that everything is fine and Ronaldo is training with the team. With the amount of money they’re paying him, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Man U. springing to get him a personal driver.