Cristiano Ronaldo chose to dismiss a tangle with AS Roma's Mirko Vucinic as an unfortunate accident, but he still tried to hide a small gash on his left eyebrow.

“I don’t like to look like this, but in four or five days I will be beautiful once again,” he said.

With that there was a disarming smile, in keeping with the United forward’s desire to project a softer image, a desire shared by his many commercial partners and, presumably, the publishers of his new book, Moments, which is less an autobiography than an extended plug for the Ronaldo brand.