MADRID, Spain — Trying up on the Actual Madrid followers packed into the stands on the Santiago Bernabeu, Kylian Mbappé smiled. He had waited a very long time to say these phrases.

“Wow. It is unbelievable to be right here,” he stated. “I dreamt for a few years about enjoying for Actual Madrid. At the moment, that dream comes true.”

The story is well-known by now: Mbappé adopted Actual Madrid as a boy, visited the membership on trial, nearly joined them in 2017 and once more in 2022. Now, Mbappé has really arrived, formally signing a five-year contract Tuesday after leaving Paris Saint-Germain on a free switch on the finish of the 2023-24 season.

Such an extended wait deserves a heat welcome and Actual Madrid’s followers agreed, flocking to the stadium to greet him. The crowds meant it felt like an low season LaLiga matchday, however this was all about one man. The distributors did not disappoint both, with Mbappé shirts, scarves and facemasks all available. The brand new membership store, constructed into the aspect of the redeveloped Bernabeu, turned the Kylian Mbappé store. His face was displayed flooring to ceiling on big screens, the cabinets stocked nearly solely together with his shirts.

Followers had queued for hours within the Madrid sunshine, with temperatures coming near 90 levels Fahrenheit (32 levels Celsius) ready for the stadium’s gates to open forward of a noon begin. All of the tickets — made obtainable without cost to membership members — had been snapped up days earlier.

The Bernabeu pitch was changed into a stage for the event. At one finish, the place one of many targets would often be, was an enormous podium backed by an enormous display, with Madrid’s 15 European Cups on show. In entrance of it have been seats for invited friends, household and mates, plus Madrid’s membership administrators, and ample area for photographers and TV cameras. A blue walkway was usual to information Mbappé from the tunnel and throughout the pitch.

Fifteen years in the past, a near-impossible commonplace was set for participant displays on the Bernabeu when, on the night of July 6, 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo was launched at his new residence. The stadium was crammed with 85,000 followers to greet the Ballon d’Or winner, with folks spilling out of the stands and onto the pitch.

A membership worker advised ESPN they’d by no means seen something just like the chaos that day. It was described as the most important occasion of its sort, topping Diego Maradona’s presentation at Napoli in 1984. Alfredo di Stefano and Portugal’s Eusebio have been in attendance for Ronaldo, with even the participant trying impressed.

May Mbappé’s arrival — even longer awaited — reside as much as the hype?

For a begin, Tuesday’s crowd did not fairly match that for Ronaldo. There have been blocks of seats stored empty at every finish, behind the targets, and no mass crowds on the pitch, and there have been seats dotted across the stands. Estimates vary from no less than 70,000 current, with the membership placing the determine nearer to 80,000. Both method, the followers who have been there made their presence felt.

The gang’s first vital roar got here when Mbappé was pictured on the Bernabeu’s huge screens, strolling into the stadium. There was one other when he was proven behind the scenes, placing on his new quantity 9 shirt. A 3rd got here when the architect of Mbappé’s arrival, president Florentino Perez appeared. He walked out to take his seat within the entrance row, adopted by the membership’s honorary president, Pirri, and a shock visitor: Mbappé’s idol and mentor, Zinedine Zidane.

The gang was stored entertained by movies of Madrid’s best Champions League moments — Zidane’s 2002 volley towards Bayer Leverkusen yielded the most important cheer — earlier than being proven Mbappé’s profession highlights so far, together with photographs of him as a boy, sporting a Madrid shirt. When the preamble was over, Perez spoke first. He launched Mbappé, calling him “the child who’s now the star.”

After years of failed bids, near-misses and about-turns, it felt nearly surreal. Out stepped Mbappé onto the pitch sporting a full Madrid equipment, beaming and waving on the crowd.

“You fell in love with Actual Madrid as a boy,” Perez stated. “I do know you may always remember that day in December 2012, when Zinedine Zidane invited you to Actual Madrid Metropolis. Your love for Actual Madrid has given you the energy to beat each impediment to be right here. You are right here since you wished to be. Thanks for making an effort to put on this shirt.”

That final line was an overt reference to Mbappé’s very public wrestle to go away Paris Saint-Germain, which noticed Madrid’s efforts to signal him rebuffed in 2021 and 2022. It is true that Mbappé needed to battle to be right here, refusing to bend below strain to train an possibility to increase his PSG contract till 2025, and guaranteeing that he may transfer without cost this summer season.

It was additionally clear that whereas this was a giant day for Mbappé, it was simply as huge for Perez. No signing had ever taken this lengthy, required this a lot endurance, care and discretion. When Mbappé lastly had his probability to talk, he did so in near-perfect Spanish.

“I wish to thank the president [Perez] first,” Mbappé stated. “He believed in me from the beginning. Quite a lot of issues occurred … however I wish to say thanks. I wish to thank everybody who labored for me to return right here. I do know it was troublesome, however now I am right here.”

The gang chanted for him to “kiss the badge” and Mbappé obliged, earlier than posing for photographs and taking a lap of the pitch.

“I used to be positive the second would arrive”

Regardless of this being an event worthy of music or pyrotechnics, this was a really Actual Madrid presentation. There have been no fireworks, gentle present or histrionics. It was austere, and a bit old school. Later, within the Bernabeu press room beneath the stadium, there was time for extra reflection on that lengthy wait to hitch Actual Madrid as Mbappé confronted his first questions from the media.

In that setting, Mbappé’s efficiency was superlative, the France star placing on a tour de power in appeal and charisma. One factor is obvious: He has been getting ready for this second for an extended, very long time.

In a 40-minute information convention, he fielded most questions in easy Spanish, usually with out the necessity to verify the interpreter’s translation. He solely switched to French to reply these journalists who had flown in from Paris to cowl his arrival, which galvanized the Madrid-based media pack.

“It was a dream,” Mbappé repeated, when requested to determine the exact second he’d determined to hitch Madrid. “Then, it turned an goal. I used to be near signing for Actual Madrid two years in the past, and three years in the past. It is a part of the lifetime of a footballer.”

He stated his earliest Madrid recollections have been watching Zidane, the person accountable for bringing him to the membership on trial and arguably step one within the path that led him right here.

“When Cristiano [Ronaldo] arrived, I watched each recreation …,” Mbappé stated. “I noticed Cristiano’s presentation [in 2009] with my household. Like several child, I stated, ‘In the future, I wish to be him.'”

Regardless of his failure to safe strikes in 2021 and 2022, he stated he by no means had doubt. “I used to be positive the second would arrive,” Mbappé stated. “For me, Madrid have been the one possibility. I had affords from plenty of golf equipment. However I all the time stated that once I left Paris, I would go to Actual Madrid.”

When requested, he supplied few specifics. Mbappé was reluctant to dwell on his battle to go away PSG, or say whether or not he’d require surgical procedure on the damaged nostril he picked up with France at Euro 2024, or precisely how he’ll match into Madrid’s frontline alongside Vinícius Júnior and Rodrygo.

Earlier than his presentation — and after his early morning medical — Mbappé had stopped off on the coaching floor, assembly coach Carlo Ancelotti and the handful of gamers who’re already again in preseason coaching forward of the membership’s U.S. tour. “I will play the place the boss [Ancelotti] desires,” Mbappé stated. “I can play within the three positions within the assault. A very powerful factor is to be proper bodily and mentally, to assist the crew.

“For me, there is not a debate. I wish to be on the pitch, however the place I will play … I do not care.”

Now that followers have gotten a take a look at Mbappé in a Madrid shirt, they’re going to need extra, however he does not know when that damaged nostril — and the necessity to relaxation after an extended season — will permit him to play. “We spoke this morning with the medical crew,” he stated. “We’ll see what we do. I hope I will play the [UEFA] Tremendous Cup [against Atalanta on Aug. 14] … The U.S. tour, we’ll see. If the membership need me to go, I will go.”

At any time when that long-awaited debut comes, this can be a new period, and Actual Madrid — already reigning champions of Spain and Europe — have a brand new star. Tuesday was just the start.