A dog was left "shaking with fear" when a supercar owned by Manchester United forward Cristiano Ronaldo crashed into a property in Majorca on Monday morning.
The Portugal captain, 37, was not driving the Bugatti Veyron - valued at £1.8million - when the incident happened. He is currently enjoying a holiday with his family on the Balearic Island before reporting back for pre-season at United's Carrington training ground.
Ronaldo has pledged to pay the homeowner, who remains anonymous, for the damage caused. The Majorcan local turned up at the footballer's rented mansion on Tuesday to speak to him about the incident after fearing his dog had been killed.
Police have confirmed Ronaldo's employee - thought to be one of his bodyguards - was driving the luxury sports car when it came off the road and smashed into a stone wall protecting the house. It's not believed a person suffered significant injuries from the crash.
The incident happened close to the property Ronaldo, who ferried over two cars for the holiday, has rented. He was reportedly in the other vehicle when the incident happened. The badly-damaged Bugatti was later driven away on a tow-truck under a blue tarpaulin.
"I had to wait for a while for the door to be opened [when I visited Ronaldo] but I was met by a very polite man and woman," the homeowner told Majorcan outlet Ultima Hora. "On behalf of Ronaldo they promised to pay all the damage the Bugatti had caused.
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"They told me to get everything fixed and keep the invoices... My water meter was ripped out in the accident and since then I haven’t been able to live normally in my own house. The door flew off its hinges and two concrete columns were knocked down.
"I was working when the police told me about the accident and the first thing I thought was that my dog had been killed because it is always behind the door. When I entered the property I saw him shaking with fear a fair distance from the entrance."
Cristiano was reportedly heading to his £5.5m Azimut Grande superyacht - moored in Porto Adriano in the south-west of Majorca - when the smash happened. Police were deployed to the crash but neither paramedics nor firefighters were spotted at the scene.
Majorcan newspaper Cronica Balear claimed Ronaldo's security staff looked after the car while they waited for the police to arrive. It's believed they did 'everything possible' to make sure curious locals who recognised Ronaldo's vehicle couldn't take photos.
The identity of the person driving the car has not been revealed. Ronaldo and his family are protected in England by Portuguese twins who served as elite special forces soldiers in Afghanistan. The guards have previously been named as Sergio and Jorge Ramalheiro.
Spanish police have confirmed there is nothing to suggest Ronaldo was involved in the crash. "The car smashed into a wall but there was only material damage with no-one injured and the driver accepted full responsibility for what happened," said a source.
"The information about who was behind the wheel and what occurred is registered on a police database and is there for a court or officers to access if any further investigations need to be conducted.
"But it is more a case of the information needing to be registered so the owner of the property that was damaged can put in a compensation claim and use the police report as a back-up in case there is any dispute down the line about how the damage was done."
Another insider added: "The accident happened on a minor road near Joan March Hospital. The car appears to have come off the road and has hit a wall which forms part of the protection to a house with a gas canister deposit behind it.
"An employee of Cristiano’s was apparently driving at the time and not the footballer himself. Cristiano was not at the scene when officers arrived and nor was the person who officers were told had been driving the car at the time of the accident."
Cristiano jetted to Majorca with his five children and partner Georgina Rodriguez on June 14. They are renting a luxury home at the foot of the Tramuntana Mountains and enjoying days out on the veteran forward's super yacht.
They are expected to stay at the house for another three or four days. The villa has its own gym, pool surrounded by palm trees, several hot tubs, a beach volleyball court and a mini-football pitch.
