Logo

much of Europe anticipates with a quickening pulse. What mattered was not so much the way the first of Madrid's five goals against Borussia Dortmund was converted, by Esteban Granero, but how deliciously it had been set up: a subtle back-heel, delivered with speed and precision and not so much as a turn of his head by the Brazilian Kaka.

Three new recruits, Xabi Alonso, Kaka and Granero, were involved in the goal, which was pleasing for the coaches charged with the tricky task of creating a team where six, perhaps seven, first XI places will be occupied by players recruited since mid-June. Kaka has so far been the outstanding newcomer. Standing somewhat on the margins of this rout lingered the world's most expensive footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo.

"Ronaldo is the dark corner so far in the planning of coach Manuel Pellegrini," concluded Marca, the popular madridista newspaper. "Rich guy, poor game," decided Sport, a paper with a firm anti-Madrid agenda.

Afterwards Ronaldo acknowledged that fluent, peak form still felt some days away. "I'm sure I will be in top condition when the competitive matches start," he said. That date is today, the beginning of a Spanish domestic season more hyped than any since Real Madrid first began their studied policy of turning financial ostentation into an Olympic sport. Talking of which, Usain Bolt has been invited to attend the opening league fixture at the Bernabeu against Deportivo La Coruna, one world record-holder joining in the global scrutiny of another, Ronaldo.

These are unfamiliar pressures for the Portuguese. Even Ronaldo's more sympathetic colleagues talk of the weight his £80m transfer fee carries. "His main problem will be the amount of money that has been paid for him," said Luis Figo, his compatriot and once the bearer of a world-record fee at the same club.

What could Figo say to reassure his countryman? The circumstances are not quite like those that Figo, and, in subsequent summers during the early years of this decade, Zinedine Zidane, Brazil's Ronaldo and David Beckham found when they arrived, one after the other during the first stint in charge of the Real Madrid president, Florentino Perez. Madrid were the European champions when they paid Barcelona almost £40m in the summer of 2000 to hire Figo; they were Spanish champions 12 months later when they beat that record to recruit Zidane; European champions again when they bought the other Ronaldo; Liga title-holders when Beckham joined.

But the club that re-elected Perez in June and promptly spent some £170m on a new front three of Ronaldo, Benzema and Kaka are champions of nothing except inflation. They have not penetrated the last-16 of the Champions League for five years, and they finished a dull second to Barcelona in the league last May. Ronaldo must turn from providing the finesse in a very strong Manchester United to rescuing what has been a very ordinary Real Madrid. While he has the assurance of sharing that responsibility with the other newcomers, notably Kaka and Benzema - Xabi Alonso should be equally important but he does not have top billing here - their presence reminds him daily that this is a Madrid team which is being not so much rebuilt as blitzed into shape, suddenly.

Arrigo Sacchi, the club's director of football in the period Figo, Zidane, Brazil's Ronaldo and Beckham shared places in the XI, is alarmed by a sense of deja vu. "Kaka and Ronaldo are strong men and good footballers, so they should be able to play alongside one another. But Madrid should be careful not to do what they did once, and bring in players without thinking whether they complement each other technically."

Initially, Ronaldo is bound to miss the relationships he had at United. Benzema, 21, signed from Lyon, lacks the maturity, industry and range of influence Wayne Rooney provided in United's attack. And some of the freedom given to Ronaldo as a United footballer are inevitably allocated at Madrid to Kaka, a No. 10 with a manicured image of saintliness but also one capable of expressing his concerns quite powerfully at Milan when he thought his territory was being cramped by Ronaldinho.

Ronaldo is still seeking his bearings. A feature of the pre-season has been his starting from deeper positions; the murmurs have it that he feels perplexed by some of the instructions coming from his new head coach. What he does not want to be taken for, though, is a prima donna. The Sunday Times, London

Primera Liga fixtures: On Saturday: Real Madrid vs Deportivo Coruna, Real Zaragoza vs Tenerife. On Sunday: Athletic Bilbao vs Espanyol, Malaga vs Atletico Madrid, Osasuna vs Villarreal, Racing Santander vs Getafe, Real Mallorca vs Xerez, Valencia vs Sevilla, Almeria vs Real Valladolid. On Monday: Barcelona vs Sporting Gijon.