..and it's a shaky start for the man they call El Dandy.Byline: OLIVER HOLT THE first lesson of the first match Cristiano Ronaldo <noinclude></noinclude>
Ronaldo took a couple of free kicks from scoring positions in the 3-2 win over Deportivo La Coruna La Co·ru·ña A city of northwest Spain on the Atlantic Ocean west of Oviedo. Perhaps predating Roman times, it was the point of departure for the Spanish Armada (1588). Population: 224,000. and hoofed them both embarrassingly deep into the rows of fans behind the goal. He tried to bring down a high ball and failed to control it. He had a one on one with the Deportivo goalkeeper and the goalkeeper saved it. He was dispossessed several times by the opposition full-back. He didn't play badly. There was still a sense of danger whenever he had the ball at his feet. He nearly scored with a towering header from a corner. But even though Ronaldo lashed home a penalty 10 minutes before half-time, Raul, Kaka ka·ka n. A brownish-green New Zealand parrot (Nestor meridionalis). [Maori k  k , Xabi Alonso Xabier Alonso Olano, commonly known as Xabi (prounounced Shabi) Alonso and often misspelt as Xavi Alonso (born 25 November 1981 in Tolosa, Basque Region, Spain) is a Spanish footballer who plays for Liverpool F.C.. and Lassana Diarra all made more
telling contributions to an unconvincing win.
There has been so much hype about Ronaldo's move from Manchester United to Madrid, so much expectation placed upon him, that it was almost inevitable his debut would be an anti-climax. It had almost got off to a fantasy start. After Usain Bolt had wandered on to the pitch before kick-off as guest of honour guest of honour Noun a famous or important person who is the most important guest at a dinner or other social occasion and tried to chip the Deportivo keeper from the halfway line, Madrid mesmerised their opponents in the opening exchanges. From the moment the referee's whistle blew, Madrid strung together a move of almost 20 passes without Deportivo touching the ball. It ended with Diarra threading a pass through to Kaka who bore down on goal. Ronaldo was free and unmarked to his left and if Kaka had found him, the pounds 80m man would have scored with his first touch for his new team. Kaka shot instead. And missed. Ronaldo gave Kaka one of his trademark withering stares but he did not sulk and a thrill of excitement passed through the capacity Bernabeu crowd every time he touched the ball. His image is everywhere in Madrid, staring down from a massive Nike advertising billboard in the Puerta del Sol The Puerta del Sol (Spanish for "Gate of the Sun") is one of the most well known and busiest places in Madrid. This is the centre (Km 0) of the radial network of Spanish roads. in the city centre, beaming down from the big screens at the Bernabeu and on the front page of all the newspapers. "El Dandy," the sports daily AS christened him yesterday as a nod to his taste for flash clothes and chunky jewellery. And even if Ronaldo did not do anything spectacular against Deportivo, there were plenty of hints of great things to come. The fans applauded nervously in the moments before he took his penalty, knowing how important it was that he scored early in his Madrid career to remove at least some of the pressure he must feel. His own reaction showed how much the goal meant to him, although, later in the game, he lapsed into the kind of frustrated funk that United fans became so familiar with. At the end, he gave a peremptory peremptory adj. absolute, final and not entitled to delay or reconsideration. The term is applied to writs, juror challenges or a date set for hearing. PEREMPTORY. Absolute; positive. A final determination to act without hope of renewing or altering. wave to the crowd before heading straight down the tunnel without shaking hands with any of the other players. "I am very happy," he said afterwards. "It went well, we won and that was the target. We did some good things and some not so good. We will need to improve." He might yet have a rival for fastest man on the pitch. Bolt gave a press conference at the Bernabeu yesterday in which he said he thought he could run the 100m in less than 10 seconds even with a ball at his feet. Bolt said he had never been nervous before, not even before a big race, but that he was scared stiff when he walked out on to the pitch at the Bernabeu. The Olympic sprint champion still seemed in awe after being invited to dinner with Ronaldo and his family after the game. "It was wonderful," Bolt said, "for a great star like Cristiano to invite me out." For all his fame, Ronaldo will not be the heartbeat of the Madrid team in the way he was at United. There are others at Real who will demand their share of the limelight and the ball. It may be that he learns to love that dynamic or it may be that, being an incorrigible in·cor·ri·gi·ble adj. 1. Incapable of being corrected or reformed: an incorrigible criminal. 2. Firmly rooted; ineradicable: incorrigible faults. 3. show-off, he quickly starts to hate it. If that happens, the soap opera that is Galacticos II will begin in earnest. For more pictures of Ronaldo on his debut, got to mirrorfootball.co.uk CAPTION(S): USEFUL BOLT Usain shows great technique as he just misses with this 50-yard chip pre-match OFF AND RUNNING Ronaldo celebrates scoring from a penalty - his first goal in Real Madrid colours NO SPARK Ronaldo failed to catch fire |
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