Despite being a very naughty boy in California during the summer break, Cristiano Ronaldo was welcomed to Madrid today in the manner of a messiah, with an estimated 80,000 fans packing the Santiago Bernabeu to catch their first glimpse of the Portuguese superstar football player.
The local TV news proudly reported that this number of fans turning up just for a player unveiling was a world record, beating even the welcoming of Maradona (dirty Argie cheat) to Napoli in 1984.
Frankly, this is madness, and also seems a bit desperate. Yes, it was a torrid 2008/09 season, having to watch Barca win the ‘Triple’ and, yes, we have had two weeks of absolutely scorchio weather that has made even grizzled Manchego farmers complain of being hot, but 80,000 people, waiting up to 3 hours, just to see a bloke strut down a catwalk and give a press conference? Lunacy.
The madness was even affecting the club physio who stated he was ‘amazed’ at Cristiano’s condition and that the player has “an extraordinary cardiac and lung capacity.” Riiiiiight. Whatever.
Florentino Pérez, the Real Madrid president and architect of the Ronaldo and Kaká transfers, looked on at the proceedings with a smile a kilometer wide. Let’s hope that smile is still there halfway through next season. He’s called in some serious financial favours to fund these acquisitions and he desperately needs them to pay off. He’s already started trying to cover his back by calling for a new Euro Super League only for big clubs in order to guarantee them sufficient revenues.








