On 6th July 2009, Real Madrid presented their latest Galactico Cristiano Ronaldo after signing him from Manchester for a then World record 94 million euros. It still holds the record for highest attendance in an official player unveiling with 80,000 fans, surpassing the 25-year record of 75,000 fans who had welcomed Diego Maradona at Napoli.
Ronaldo was linked with a move to the Bernabeu for two years before it eventually happened in the summer of 2009. The Portuguese talisman's signing was a part of Florentino Perez's second edition Of Galactico signings. Los Blancos also signed Xabi Alonso, Kaka and Karim Benzema in the same window. Cristiano Ronaldo was given the number 9 shirt formerly worn by club legends Ronaldo Nazario, Hugo Sanchez and Alfredo Di Stefano which was presented to him by former Madrid player Di Stefano himself. Ronaldo was given his trademark number 7 the very next season.
Cristiano Ronaldo came to Real Madrid as the best player in the World. The winger was in his absolute prime at the age of 24 when he was signed and went on to achieve unreal heights at the Spanish capital. At Manchester United Ronaldo won absolutely everything there was to win in terms of both collective and individual trophies. The Portuguese forward scored 84 goals in 196 Manchester United appearances. Ronaldo ended his time in England with nine collective trophies along with the Ballon D'or, Puskas award, PFA player of the year, PFA young player of the year and the golden boot.
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Cristiano Ronaldo announced his arrival by becoming the first Real Madrid player to score in his first four league fixtures. Ronaldo ended his first season in Madrid with 33 goals in all competitions. Real Madrid failed to win any silverware despite Ronaldo's performances which resulted in the sacking of manager Manuel Pellegrini. Madrid then appointed treble-winning manager Jose Mourinho.
In 3 seasons under Mourinho, Ronaldo scored 168 goals in a mere 164 matches. Mourinho was the first manager to play Ronaldo as a number 9. Mourinho benched all his strikers namely Benzema, Higuain and Adebayor to play Ronaldo upfront in the Copa Del Rey final in which Ronaldo ended up scoring an Extra time winner. In those three seasons, Ronaldo was instrumental as Madrid won the La Liga, Copa Del Rey and Spanish Super Cup in addition to playing in three Champions League Semifinals. All this was done at the time when Pep Guardiola's Barcelona was arguably ruling the world of football.
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Cristiano Ronaldo went on to achieve more when he hit his absolute peak under Carlo Ancelotti and Zinedine Zidane. Ronaldo formed a formidable trio with Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema popularly known as BBC(Bale, Benzema, Cristiano). That Real Madrid team won four Champions Leagues between 2014 and 2018. The one year Real Madrid failed to win it during that period was in 2015 when they marginally lost the Semi-Final against Juventus.
In 2018 Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Juventus in search of a new challenge. In 9 full seasons at Real Madrid Ronaldo became the All-time Top Scorer of Real Madrid and the UEFA Champions League. Ronaldo won four Ballon D'ors as a Real Madrid player along with numerous other individual awards. Real Madrid won a total of 15 major trophies with Ronaldo as their Talisman. The Portuguese captain is still setting the stage on fire with both Portugal and Juventus but Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo was a different beast.
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