Champions League Betting: Real shorten as Ronaldo is unvelied

Champions League / Maxliu / 07 July 2009 / 2 Comments

Real's Champions League price shortens as huge crowd turn out to welcome Portuguese star...

It dwarfed David Beckham's arrival in LA and drew twice as many fans as Thierry Henry's unveling at the Nou Camp two years ago - in fact, the last time we saw such hysteria, Barack Obama was making his election victory speech in Grant Park, Chicago.

It's now the norm, in Spain at least, for astronomical transfer fees to be followed by totemic unveilings but Cristiano Ronaldo's appearance, in front of 80,000 fans, at the Bernabeu last night set a new benchmark for player entrances.

Ronaldo lapped up the applause in front of Real legend Alfredo di Stefano and Portugal great Eusebio before telling fans that by signing for the Spanish club, he had fulfilled a childhood dream.

So how will this latest all white dream team fare next season?

The last Galatico side - Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo et al - won the 2003 Champions League but dwindled in the Beckham era and the club had to wait until 2007 for another trophy. Of the new recruits, Karim Benzema is the rawest and his reputation is based largely on one season. Meanwhile, Madrid are yet to make the defensive reinforcements they so urgently require.

Kaka has denied any rivalry with Ronaldo but though big player unveilings are designed to send a strong message to rivals, one wonders what effect such a star system will have on team morale. Remember, a common criticism of Ronaldo after Manchester United's Champions League defeat to Barcelona was that the Portugeuse went out to prove he was a better player than Lionel Messi rather than working for the team.

Betfair punters are convinced that this team can challenge for the big prizes.

Real's price to win the 2009/10 Champions League has nosedived since they began their summer spending bonanza. Having traded at [16.0], they are now in to [5.8] with reigning champions Barcelona at [5.5]. On the domestic front, Real are [2.18] with Barca [1.99].

Comments (2)

1. Zee Zoo | 07 July 2009

   "As observers were quick to point out, Real Madrid could have covered the transfer fee by charging fans a tenner to be there."

   Those observers are not very good at maths are they?!

2. Ed | 07 July 2009

   Oh dear - quite right. £800,000 - they could have covered a hundredth of the fee then. Or snapped up MK Dons' Dean Lewington and still had change...