NEVER MIND the moon landings. The Galacticos of Real Madrid celebrated the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11 by touching down in Tallaght last night, like visitors from another universe.
They featured the world’s most expensive footballer, Cristiano Ronaldo, who alone could have paid the entire Shamrock Rovers wage bill out of his loose change.
Yet for 85 glorious minutes, Rovers’s journeymen held their own against the superstars, before losing to a late strike by Karim Benzema. Even then, the disappointment of the home supporters was greatly eased by the fact that the goal did not come from you-know-who.
Ronaldo had postured and pranced to little effect, miscuing several free kicks, before being substituted at half-time. His performance was a small step-over for mankind. But as the jeers of the Rovers supporters suggested, his eclipse by the home defence was a giant leap for humanity.
Female fans screamed earlier in the evening when the team bus arrived at Tallaght, with the biggest shrieks reserved for the former Manchester United star, making his Madrid debut. Instead of screams, the mostly-male Rovers supporters in the 11,000 crowd greeted their visitors with boos, the biggest reserved for Ronaldo. When he missed a shot, they chanted: “Who are ya?” When he lost the ball, they sang: “What a waste of money”.
Apart from being the most successful ever clubs in their home countries, the only other thing Real Madrid and Shamrock Rovers have in common is that both have deadly rivals whose names begin with “B”. In a back-handed tribute to their regular enemies, the Rovers fans’ ultimate dismissal of the Galacticos last night was a familiar chant: “Bring on the Bohs.”