Real Madrid’s miserable Champions League trip to Liverpool was compounded when the club’s new team bus was damaged in a road accident on Thursday.
The squad of players were not on the bus at the time – and there were no serious injuries – but footage shows the front of the vehicle wedged into the back of a lorry on the M40.
The incident occurred on Thursday afternoon as the custom vehicle was making its way south and then back to Spain following Real’s 2-0 defeat at Anfield on Wednesday.
In a statement, Warwickshire Police said: “Our officers responded to reports of a collision involving a car, a lorry, and the coach of a well-known football team on the M40 southbound between junction 16 for Hockley Heath and junction 15 for Warwick.
“Fortunately, nobody was seriously injured. The players from the well-known football team were not on the coach at the time.
“We have seen photos and videos of the collision on social media so we would like to remind people that it is illegal to take photos and videos while in control of a vehicle.”
National Highways West Midlands also posted on X: “Traffic is stopped on the M40 in Warwickshire southbound between J16 near Hockley Heath and J15 near Warwick following a collision. Emergency services are in attendance. Delays of at least 45 minutes above normal travel times. Please allow extra time for your journey.”
According to reports in Spain, the bus had been in use for just over a month. The drivers were making a 20-hour journey back to Spain by road – something that is normal for away matches in Europe.
Football coaches Suraj Shehmar and Daryl McKnight, from Birmingham, drove past the scene on their way to work and said the incident had “probably made matters worse” after Madrid’s defeat at Anfield.
“It was a bit of a shock, a bit surreal … as I was approaching it I was thinking ‘that can’t be the Madrid bus, that can’t be the Madrid bus’,” Mr Shehmar, 30, told the PA news agency.
“I was trying to look into the actual coach to see if there was any players.
“The front was smashed, it was quite bad to be fair – especially after the night they had last night, it probably made matters much worse.
“I do hope they’re all OK, I hope everyone involved was OK and no one was badly hurt – that’s the main thing.”
Goals from Alexis Mac Allister and Cody Gakpo sealed Liverpool’s win on Wednesday to preserve their perfect start to the Champions League campaign. France striker Kylian Mbappe had a penalty saved by Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher when Liverpool led 1-0.
