Cover up: Wayne Rooney covered his cut head with a cap and hoodie as he headed to hospital, accompanied by his pregnant wife Coleen (L)
Wayne Rooney needed 45 stitches in an emergency operation to save his ear.
The England and Manchester United star was hurt as he "larked around" with friends aboard his £150,000-a-week chartered yacht after spending all night out partying.
The striker, holidaying in St Tropez on the French Riviera, fell to the ground in agony with blood spurting from his left ear as crewmen raced to help him.
He was then rushed to shore by tender while an ambulance was called to the dockside, and taken the 10 miles to St Tropez hospital's surgery clinic after the drama at 8.30am on Friday.
Earlier reports had suggested Rooney, 23, had simply fallen and cut open his head.
But he told staff at the hospital his ear lobe was torn through while "larking about" with pals.
Just hours earlier, Rooney - on holiday at the chic resort with wife Coleen, who is six months pregnant - had been out drinking with male friends at the famous Quai Joseph nightclub.
He and two pals had only returned at dawn to the 42-metre yacht. At the hospital, with a worried Coleen at his side, one of France's top plastic surgeons, Dr Mathieu Piquet, carried out the delicate surgery required to sew back the lobe.
Rooney finally left the hospital five hours later, his head shielded by a baseball cap and a blue hoodie. His ear is likely to be bandaged for two weeks.