Steward knocked out by Ronaldo's wayward warm-up shot thought she was DEAD

The female steward who was struck by Cristiano Ronaldo's wayward shot before Manchester United's 2-1 defeat at Young Boys thought she was dead before the Portuguese superstar told her otherwise.

During the warm-up prior to kick-off, Ronaldo fired a shot just wide of the goal as he limbered up for the Champions League clash in Switzerland.

However, as the ball whistled past the goal it smacked the head of Marisa Nobile - knocking the unsuspecting steward to the ground.

An apologetic Ronaldo jumped over the barrier to check on the welfare of the stricken steward as she received medical attention. At the end of the match too, the 36-year-old handed her his worn jersey.

And speaking about the incident for the first-time, Nobile has revealed that she initially feared the worst before those concerns were allayed by the iconic No 7.

'When the ball hit me on my head it was a full strike!' she told Blick TV.

'I was gone in my head and went to the ground. Afterwards I saw Ronaldo above me! Me: "Oh my god no, did I die?"

'Ronaldo said: "No, no. Excuse me! What's happening? Are you all right?"

'I was in great pain. My God. I was more or less ballaballa! But then I saw Ronaldo and the headache was gone.'

Despite that wayward shot, Ronaldo did manage to find his shooting boots later as he fired United in front against Young Boys in the 13th minute.

However, by full-time he and his team-mates were the ones dealing with a headache after suffering a surprise defeat.

United were reduced to 10 men in the 35th minute after Aaron Wan-Bissaka's dangerous challenge on Christopher Martins earned the defender a straight red card.

They still looked on set to take a point after Cameroon winger Moumi Ngamaleu's equaliser in the 66th minute.

But a 95th-minute howler by substitute Jesse Lingard - who had replaced Ronaldo with 18 minutes left - allowed Jordan Siebatcheu to score the winner.

Ronaldo, who became the joint all-time Champions League appearance holder by making his 177th appearance, and Co will be looking to return to wining ways on Sunday when they host West Ham in the Premier League.