Cristiano Ronaldo at Madrid was more than just goals. The end feels cold | Sid Lowe

Four-hundred-and-fifty-one goals. Forty-four hat-tricks. Cristiano Ronaldo’s Real Madrid stats are so absurd they threaten to overshadow what he actually did for the club

‘Your goals, your numbers and everything we’ve won together speak for themselves,” Sergio Ramos said once the news finally broke. Real Madrid’s players had doubted that it would come to this, that he would really do it and that they would really let him, but this time it was real. Barely minutes after the Champions League final, before the trophy had been handed over, Cristiano Ronaldo said that it had been – past tense – nice being at Madrid. Moments later Florentino Pérez, the president with whom there was little warmth, said he had heard that one before and in the end nothing ever happens. But he hadn’t, not like this, and in the end it did.

The announcement was made at 5.34 Spanish time. After nine years at the Santiago Bernabéu, Cristiano Ronaldo was joining Juventus for €100m (£88.3m), plus €5m to be paid to his former clubs. The 33-year-old has signed a four-year deal reportedly worth around €30m a year, after tax; the total cost is estimated to be €345m.

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