Manchester United may have lost the UEFA Super Cup on Tuesday night, but perhaps they can take solace from one wondrously timed photo.

Without his trademark bouffant hair it might have been difficult to recognise the picture’s subject – United midfielder Marouane Fellaini.

Fair play to the Belgian for posting the picture himself. Taken like a true champ – well, not a champ of the UEFA Super Cup of course. Spanish giants Real Madrid beat the Red Devils 2-1 with relative ease in Skopje, Macedonia’s capital.

But who cares about football, back to the photo. Inevitably, some on Twitter decided Fellaini’s warped chops needed some treatment from Photoshop – and it pulled up some intriguing theories as to what caused Fellaini’s face to become so mangled.

1. Fellaini is a melted candle

2. Fellaini is an unfortunately sculpted bust

It’s almost as misshapen as the actual bust of Cristiano Ronaldo on which this has been Photoshopped – almost.

3. He’s standing in front of a fan

Who doesn’t love a pun?

4. He’s been punched by Mike Tyson

5. He’s the victim of a scorpion kick

Former Colombian keeper Rene Higuita doing what he did best there.

6. He’s become a character in a video game

Unfortunately for the 29-year-old, it looks like he has taken a trip into the fighting game Tekken here – and he’s not come off well.

The Super Cup sees the winners of UEFA’s Champions League and Europa League competitions face each other.

United, the reigning Europa League champions, went behind to goals from Casemiro and Isco before their star signing Romelu Lukaku pulled a goal back.