Tallaght braces itself for the arrival of Galácticos

ASSUMING HIS transfer to Real Madrid is completed over the next few days, Ronaldo will be on course to make his debut for the Spanish giants against Shamrock Rovers in Tallaght on July 20th with the game due to be confirmed next week.

Real had been lined up some time ago to visit Ireland over the summer, with the La Liga side due to be based at Carton House in Co Kildare. The deal always involved them playing a friendly game here and for a while it was expected to be against Limerick at Thomond Park.

That was ruled out for a number of reasons, including the Spaniards’ reluctance to travel for the game, and so Shamrock Rovers have come into the frame although the fact that their South Dublin County Council-owned home is still being constructed presents some difficulties ahead of such a high profile game.

At present there are only around 3,000 seats in place in the stadium with the same again likely to be installed by August. The stand currently being built is not expected to be in place by the time Real come to town, however, and so the plan is to install around 6,600 temporary seats, bringing the capacity for the game to some 9,600. The figure would probably be higher but for the construction work on the permanent spectator facilities.

Aside from Ronaldo, Kaka would be expected to feature in the Real squad for the trip as the club has been contracted to bring all available first team squad players. Valencia striker David Villa, who is also expected to sign for the club over the coming weeks, would be another of the new wave of Galácticos due to make their debuts in Dublin if his transfer goes through.

The club, of course, has a fairly decent stock of international stars to start with with former Manchester United players Ruud van Nistelrooy and Gabriel Heinze likely to feature, along with Spanish internationals Iker Casillas, Michael Salgado and Raul.

The trip to Ireland is being organised by Platinum One, the sports agency that has, in addition to representing players, organised a number of international club exhibition tournaments, overseen Barcelona’ visit to Scotland two years ago and put forward a proposal for an All-Ireland football league which was shot down by the FAI.

Real’s players, who only gather for pre-season training three days before travelling to Ireland on July 13th, will have around a dozen training sessions during their stay here and many of these could be open to the public although it is not yet clear what, if any, admission might be charged. The trip is expected to attract the attention of up to 100 journalists and a wide range of international media outlets while the game is likely to be broadcast live back in Spain.

It will be Real’s first visit to Ireland since they took on Limerick in a European Cup tie almost 29 years ago. On that occasion, the Irish club chose to move the game to Lansdowne Road in the hope of benefiting from a bigger payday but the attendance was poor.