Madrid, Sep 29: The private airplane of Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo crashed while trying to land in Barcelona on Monday.

Spanish sports newspaper AS on Wednesday reported that the plane went off the runway upon touchdown due to a technical fault, as the landing gear of the Gulfstream G200 broke at the moment of descent and the pilot had to use his expertise to land the plane, reports Efe.

Ronaldo was not on board when the incident took place, but was in Germany along with Real Madrid to play against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday in the second round of the Champions League group stage, which ended in a 2-2 draw.

The Portuguese legend bought the aircraft in 2015 for 20 million euros ($22.4 million).

IANS