On This Day: Real unveil Ronaldo in front of packed Bernabeu in 2009

13 years ago, on this day, the Santiago Bernabeu saw record attendance as Real Madrid unveiled Cristiano Ronaldo as a Los Blancos player. 

In 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo moved from Manchester United to Real Madrid for a reported transfer fee of €94 million (£80 million) to set a new record for the most expensive transfers of all time.

A total of 80,000 fans were in attendance for the brief ceremony at the Bernabeu. It was reported to be the biggest turn-out for a presentation since nearly 75,000 fans greeted Diego Maradona at Napoli after the Argentine left Barcelona in 1984. The glamorous ceremony saw Ronaldo emerge from the tunnel onto a lime green carpet as the newly-crowned most expensive player made his way to the stage.  

For the next nine seasons at Real Madrid, Ronaldo won almost everything as he helped the Spanish side win four Champions League crowns, three Club World Cups and UEFA Super Cups apiece, two LaLiga titles, a pair of Copas del Rey and two Spanish Super Cups while bagging himself four Ballons d'Or, three Golden Shoe awards, two The Best awards as Real Madrid player. He was also named UEFA Best Player in Europe three times and landed the Pichichi crown on three occasions while at Real Madrid.

The all-time top-scorer for Real Madrid, Ronaldo saw his glorious Real Madrid chapter come to an end in 2018 when he moved to Juventus for a deal worth 112m euros (£99.2m). Having netter 101 times in 134 games and guiding the club to two Serie A titles, two Supercoppas Italiana and one Coppa Italia, Ronaldo completed a much-anticipated return to Manchester United last season. 

However, the second spell at Manchester did not work out for Ronaldo despite ending as their top-scorer with 24 goals across competitions. The 37-year-old is reported to have told United he wants to be sold, with his agent Jorge Mendes said to have held talks with Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Napoli as he seeks a club capable of satisfying Ronaldo's ambitions.