Super eight: Kaka is unveiled
Over 40,000 fans packed into the Santiago Bernabeu this
evening to see the arrival of one man at
Real Madrid, and it is fair to
say they did not seem disappointed.
Kaka's first appearance as a Madrid
player in the White House was an occasion that grew louder and
louder as the evening went on.
The opening words from Florentino Perez greeting the Brazilian
to the club caused quite a stir, but that was soon overtaken as the
former AC Milan man himself walked up onto the stage, applauding
all the way.
Even then as he stood and smiled as Perez continued to talk, the
fans cheered and chanted, and only finally came to a hush when Kaka
took charge of the microphone.
"Thank you president, good evening to all Madridistas. This is
very special for me. I'm very happy to take my career here to Real
Madrid," he began.
"There is nothing comparable to the history of this club. Hala
Madrid!"
The final two words were greeted with the loudest roar of the
evening and even when minutes later he was handed his top with the
number eight on, the fans were still singing his name.
A quick lap around the stadium slapping hands with the hands and
applauding them was a fitting end to the evening before he wandered
back down the tunnel with his number clear for all to see.
In recent times the '8' jersey has been worn by Steve McManaman,
Michel, Ruben and last year by Fernando Gago.
As Jorge Valdano, Real Madrid director explained, the decision
does not mean Gago is leaving, just he is changing number too.
"I want to clear up the reason why he has been given the number
8 jersey. As you know, numbers 5, 18 and 9 were not assigned. We
knew that Fernando Gago wanted to wear the no. 5 - that is
something that us Argentinians understand very well, it's a very
special number for us. So we gave Kaka the number 8, which he was
very happy to have," he mused.
"So for the first time at Real Madrid, we made two people happy at
the very same time."
Home is where the heart is: Kaka undergoes his second
Real Madrid medical
