Real Madrid Flaunts Its Costly Superstar

The deification of sporting superstars is nothing new, but like the price, the numbers keep rising.
Real Madrid is claiming all sorts of records after nearly 80,000 packed into its Bernabéu stadium Monday night. The folks inside, and those drawn to a giant screen outside, were paying homage to Cristiano Ronaldo.

“I’m happy to be the most expensive player in the history of football,” Ronaldo said at a news conference after his coronation in the stadium. “I felt the people truly cared for me. This is the life. This is my new house. I’m going to give 100 percent for the club.” David Beckham, eat your heart out.

Nobody ever sold it like Beckham. But here is a younger model with comparable photogenic appeal and more — much more — soccer skill. Fans began lining up seven hours before the presentation. They weren’t the only ones impressed by appearances.

Carlos Díez, head of Real Madrid’s medical services and recently the busiest doctor in global soccer, had checked Ronaldo’s condition.

“Everything is in perfect condition,” Díez reported. “The cardiac and lung capacity is extraordinary.”

Next stop, a guided tour of the Bernabéu, then the initiation rites at lunch at the Puerta 57 restaurant in the company of former Real greats Alfredo di Stéfano, José Emilio Santamaría, Amancio Amaro, Ignacio Zoco, Emilio Butragueño — players who could tell him what it means to play in this theater.

Also there as a guest was Eusébio, not a Real man but the most renowned player in Portuguese history. Until now.

At some point, somebody must have told the €94 million, or $131 million, world record purchase that a change of apparel would be nice. He had arrived at Real Madrid, an Adidas club, wearing a brash Nike shirt.

The change when it came was from head almost to toe. His bronzed body was clad in the all-white of Madrid, the three stripes of Adidas down the sides. The boots, however, bore the swoosh of Ronaldo’s personal sponsor, Nike.

That swoosh is the symbol that not even Real Madrid can buy everything it desires. For now, at least, the club president, Florentino Pérez, has had to make a significant concession to the player.

Pérez, however, is winning his main aim. It is to restore Madrid to what he sees as “the greatest sporting institution on Earth.”

Kaká, the Brazilian playmaker, cost two-thirds of the Ronaldo transfer fee, and filled two-thirds of the Bernabéu for his arrival a week ago. Karim Benzema, the French player, and Raúl Albiol have also signed up.

Pérez isn’t done yet. Adding to the huge player turnover, and the unprecedented bank loans, he still has two more players he would like to buy.

One is Franck Ribéry, the French winger who makes no secret of the fact that he would ditch his Bayern Munich contract tomorrow if Munich would let him join the Madrid galacticos. The other is Xabi Alonso, a Spaniard in Liverpool’s midfield.

To accommodate the arrivals, Pérez still has the small matter of off-loading up to 10 of the players who failed Madrid last season by finishing only second to Barcelona in La Liga and nowhere in Europe, which is Real’s true playground.

The fact that Manchester United could not hold onto Ronaldo, and that AC Milan sold Kaká, still has its repercussions. When Milan’s players returned to their training retreat Monday, the first day of preparation for the season ahead, 300 fans gathered at the gates.

Some reportedly threw smoke bombs and set off firecrackers, and a banner addressed to Silvio Berlusconi, the club’s owner, read: “Without compromise: Think of Milan first and then your own interests.”

Berlusconi, also the Italian prime minister, had other things on his mind. He is preparing to host a Group of 8 summit meeting. Even so, he answers the tifosi.

“Soccer should return to normality,” he said Monday. “We should not buy at any cost.”

Foreign players in Spain, he said, had advantages from generous tax laws.

“If Madrid have these possibilities, good for them,” the prime minister said. “We are fine, because they gave us €67 million, so I can’t attack them too much.”

The €67 million is the price Madrid paid Milan for Kaká. Berlusconi’s call for a “normalization” in transfer fees comes after he took the cash.

Kaká was the 2007 world player of the year, Ronaldo the 2008 world player. While Kaká was hosting a birthday party for his year-old son, Luca, in São Paulo, the Bernabéu belonged to Ronaldo.

He kissed the badge on the shirt. He seemed momentarily to blink like a rabbit caught in headlights, then he enjoyed his scene.

Before him on a blue platform on the field his new president, and friend, Pérez made the introduction. Behind him sat the elderly di Stéfano and Eusébio.

Ronaldo wore No. 9. The No. 7 he had at United is already taken by Raúl, the club captain and all-time goal-scoring legend at Real.

“The numbers don’t play,” Ronaldo said Monday. “It is me who is going to play, and I am going to play well.”

At 24, he combines the confidence of relative youth with the fact that he already has won everything a player can in his time at Manchester.

“Premier League football is too quick,” he said, citing the emphasis on speed and physical pressure in England. “Here is different. Even the small teams have the quality to play well. Pressure is not the problem. I had pressure at Man. U.”

Fielding questions in Spanish, English and Portuguese, Ronaldo exuded a confidence that matches his extraordinary attributes. He looks the part, he plays the part, and even he appreciates that the parts being assembled around him are spectacular.

Next year’s Champions League final takes place at the Bernabéu, a point not lost on Carles Puyol, the captain of the current holder, Barcelona.

“We must show great respect,” Puyol said Monday, “but we have no fear. Our team is likely to be the same, and these players signing should serve as motivation for us.”

“It would be satisfying to retain the title in the Santiago Bernabéu.”