Showtime

There is always something of a discrepancy over the exact number of people present whenever a multitudinous meeting is organised in favour, or in protest of rigged elections, wars, testing cosmetics on animals or indeed a football club unveiling a new player. You usually have the organisers bumping up their figures to make it sound like a success, you usually then have the police coming in with their considerably less impressive version. The truth is usually somewhere in between.

And so it was with the presentation of CR9. The paper that can more or less consider itself the official organiser of the party - Marca - claimed there were 90,000 present to witness Cristiano's first steps in the white jersey, while the police of the Spanish sports press - El Pais - put it at 75,000. 

However many people were at the Bernabeu, it was an awesome sight. We all know full well what to expect from The Second Coming - a show. There doesn't even need to be any football being played at Chamartin, Florentino still knows how to fill the stadium. 

One thing was never in any doubt about the unveiling of the new number 9 - the widespread use of hyperbole. Rather than pointing out CR9 has in fact inherited Javier Saviola's squad number, we have been reminded that it was also Alfredo Di Stefano's number. While nitpicking over the exact number of fans present, one thing was true - it was the largest ever turn out for an official presentation of a footballer. It eclipsed even Maradona's unveiling at Napoli.

It also felt like an appropriate juncture for The Real Liga to return to action given the scale of what just happened. Complications to an injury to the second digit of our one and only typing finger extended the traumatic layoff. Apologies.

We all know whats happened since Florentino was unveiled just over a month ago and since the last post - the Evangelists of Madrid have been believing there really is a God out there after hearing the news that Ricky Kaka will be forming part of the congregation, Kaka's dad also thanked a few superior beings for his share of the world transfer fee, and then  CRnow9 signed an even bigger deal before going off on holiday to explore the nooks and crannies of Paris. Raul Albiol snuck onto the wage bill and wiped a reported 0.025% off Valencia's debt with his 15 million euro move, and finally Karem Benzema continued the long line of talented players to leave Lyon over the past few years for an astronomical, yet almost justifiable fee. Any further discussion of the price of these four players would simply be extending one of the most tedious arguments around this summer. Yes they were all expensive, but you can't argue with a single of them so far for bringing in quality to the squad. 

So far so good, just the thorny issue of sorting out the squad getting in the way. Manuel Pellegrini got to work yesterday and will perhaps consult Kaka for advice over where to find some inspiration to sort out the mess left by the previous administration. But of course nobody's thinking about that for now. That's far too much like taking care of business. For now its all about selling those shirts.