The little town of of Villar Perosa was full to bursting
on Sunday as Juventus fans clamoured to see new signing Cristiano
Ronaldo make his first appearance for the club - and the Portuguese
superstar didn't disappoint, taking just seven minutes to find the
net.
The Piedmont town of just 4,000 inhabitants played host to Juve's
traditional pre-season match against the their own youth team, with a
sell-out crowd of 5,000 packed in the humble local stadium to see the
first team run out 5-0 winners.
Ronaldo opened the scoring before being substituted after 45 minutes,
while the match itself ended after just 70 minutes with the
traditional planned pitch invasion.
"The fact that it was him to score the first goal promises great
things," said John Elkann, chief executive of the holding company
Exor that is controlled by the Agnelli family, who own a majority
share in Juventus.
Juve fans certainly have high expectations. "Oh Cristiano, bring us
the Champions League!" they sang ahead of the game. They are hoping
that Ronaldo can help them win European club football's biggest prize
for the first time since 1996.
Between 200 and 300 members of the security forces were there to
police proceedings, though some of them got carried away by Ronaldo
fever, taking photos of him from the side of the pitch.
It was the first glimpse of the 33-year-old Portuguese superstar in a
Juve shirt since his move from Real Madrid for 112 million euros (131
million dollars).
He is expected to make his competitive debut on Saturday, when Juve's
Serie A campaign begins away to Chievo Verona.