When Cristiano Ronaldo was playing for Manchester United he usually had the air of someone who thought that everyone at Old Trafford had come to see only him, despite there being 21 other players on the pitch. So he was in his element last night, with 80,000 fans at the Bernabéu to see the Portugal player’s bow in the white of Real Madrid.

And not only supporters, some of whom had been queueing since 9am. Alfredo Di Stefano, the legendary forward whose No 9 shirt Ronaldo will inherit — not even a world record fee of £80 million was enough to justify taking his favoured No 7 from Raúl — was on hand, along with Eusebio.

The only person who looked as pleased with himself as Ronaldo was Florentino Perez, the Real president, despite his previous experiment in collecting a team of galácticos being a disappointment. Perez, who has paid out the four biggest transfer fees in football history, suggested that Ronaldo would rank alongside Di Stefano and Eusebio, which might be considered too much pressure to heap on anyone other than Ronaldo, who probably already considers himself their equal. “Welcome to your Real Madrid,” Perez said, which made the player’s grin even wider.

Acting the part of a shy superstar to the maximum, Ronaldo tentatively approached the microphones. “For me, I have completed my childhood dream,” he said before leading all present in the traditional Bernabéu cheer of Hala Madrid!

“I’m happy to be the most expensive player in the world and I’m going to prove that they did the right thing to pay good money for me,” he said at a press conference afterwards. “It has been an ambition of mine to play here since I was a boy. After Manchester United I wanted a change. When you kiss the badge for the first time it is very special.

“We have a great team and a great coach and we have to take it step-by-step. The ambition is to win the Champions League and we’ll see. I want to adapt fast and then the goals will come. I have no targets at this point.”