Xabi Alonso bade Liverpool farewell after his move to Real Madrid, but admitted he had been “determined” to leave for some time.

Alonso was presented as a Real Madrid player last night after signing a five-year contract at the Bernabeu.

The Basque midfielder joins Madrid from Liverpool for around £30million and was unveiled at the stadium.

The 27-year-old Spain international arrived in the capital after a fee was agreed between Liverpool and Real.

Alonso then underwent various tests and met his new team-mates for training.

The midfielder is Madrid’s eighth summer signing, taking the Primera Division giants’ spending to more than £220million in only two months.

Madrid president Florentino Perez has brought in Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Raul Albiol, Esteban Granero, Alvaro Arbeloa, Alvaro Negredo and Karim Benzema as he attempts to build a team capable of challenging Barcelona’s treble winners.

“It’s a very happy day for me,” said Alonso. “It’s an important step in my career to come to a club like Real Madrid.

“I’m very happy to be part of this club and I was very excited for this day to arrive.

“It’s the best opportunity for me to develop as a footballer.”

The transfer sees Alonso return to Spain after five years away from his homeland.

And, while he enjoyed his time on Merseyside, the former Real Sociedad player admitted he decided before the end of the season the time was right to move on.

“I am very grateful to Liverpool fans, they were very warm during my five years,” he continued. “It will be really difficult to match their appreciation.

“I really enjoyed those five years.

“But a few months ago I took that decision as I thought it was the right moment to find a fresh challenge, to look for a new club.

“That’s when Real Madrid came along. Luckily a deal has been done and I’m very happy.

“It is a personal challenge I felt is necessary for my football career.”

The transfer was one of the most protracted deals of the summer but Alonso claims he always believed he would be at the Bernabeu before the start of the season.

“I didn’t have all the cards in my hand but I was confident,” he said. “A while back I became determined to leave.

“The end result was what I wished for, here I am and I am very happy.”

Reports suggest Alonso’s relationship with Liverpool manager Rafael Benitez disintegrated after he professed his desire to leave.

However, Alonso insists he has nothing but respect for his former boss.

“I have repeated over and over again that the relationship was a professional one, of mutual respect, a normal one between coach and player,” he said.

“I respect him and thank him for the opportunity he gave me.

“The goodbyes were quite brief, everything happened very quickly and I didn’t have time to say goodbye properly.

“I want to return to say goodbye to my team-mates and Rafa.

“As everything was very quick I hardly had time so as soon as I can I will say goodbye as I should have done.”

Cristiano Ronaldo does not care if people hate him. In fact, he loves seeing the hate in their eyes!

The soon-to-be Real Madrid man is not bothered by the constant jeering that he gets from rival fans.

In an interview with French magazine, So Foot, the winger said: “I love it when people jeer me. I love to see the hate in their eyes, to hear the insults,

“It doesn’t bother me. It’s true lots of people hate me but there are even more who love me and who support me. I feel bad only when I play badly. Fortunately, that happens rarely.”

Ronaldo continued to boast of his own billboard ratings when he exclaimed, I still have a long way to go. I really want to re-write the history of football,

“I am aware I’m already among the best of the best but I want to continue to write many more beautiful pages.”

And to sum it all up, the Portuguese flyer went on to self-proclaim, “I have nothing to envy Lionel for. I don’t compare myself to others,

“I am Cristiano Ronaldo - and I can win more medals than anybody else. I don’t like to relax. The fans want to see a great Cristiano Ronaldo so I try to never disappoint.”

Ronaldo will be the most expensive player in football history when his 80 million pound move to Madrid is done and dusted.

Along with Brazilian midfielder Kaka, the two players will usher in the second Galacticos era at the Bernabau.

Cristiano Ronaldo’s impending record-breaking move to Real Madrid has been greeted with mixed reactions in the Spanish press.

Although there is plenty of praise for new Madrid president Florentino Perez’s success in persuading Manchester United to part with the Portugal international, the astronomical transfer fee has caused some division.

Providing Madrid can agree personal terms with Ronaldo and there are no complications regarding the FIFA World Player of the Year’s medical, then the 24-year-old will move to the Bernabeu in a world-record £80million switch.

That would dwarf the fee Madrid splashed out on Zinedine Zidane in 2001 and comes just days after the Spanish giants secured the services of Kaka for £56million.

Marca, Spain’s biggest-selling newspaper, hailed the news as “The signing of the century” on their front cover and “A signing from another galaxy” on page two, in reference to the ‘galacticos’ policy that Perez presided over during his previous stint in the Madrid hotseat from 2000-06.

That policy saw Perez splash out huge fees on the likes of Luis Figo, Zidane, Ronaldo and David Beckham, and the returning president has wasted no time in bringing those days back.

Marca also report there will be more money splashed around by Madrid in the near future, announcing above a picture of Ronaldo on their front page: “And next week the signing of (David) Villa will be announced!!!”

AS, who like their fellow Madrid-based sports daily Marca used a two-page front cover with a picture of Ronaldo wearing the all-white kit, acknowledged that the transfer fee was likely to cause plenty of debate.

“Praise is mixed with criticism for the price, a new world record - 94million euros for the number one,” read their front cover.

AS also claim Ronaldo will wear the number nine shirt at Madrid and has already registered the trademark ‘CR9′, while both Marca and AS report that the winger will sign a six-year contract and earn a salary of around nine million euros (£7.7million) per year.

El Mundo newspaper focused more on Ronaldo’s huge price tag as they reported the news.

“Madrid pay for Ronaldo 57 times his weight in gold,” read their headline next to a photograph of Ronaldo kissing the Golden Boot he won in 2007-08.

“Florentino Perez pays 94 million for him, a week after paying another 65 for Kaka. The sum of the two transactions is the equivalent of the combined annual budget of the Prado Museum, Reina Sofia Museum and National Library.”

El Pais followed a similar vein in an article on their website, saying: “Florentino Perez lives in another galaxy.

“In full global crisis, Madrid will pay 94million for Cristiano Ronaldo - a price that exceeds the budget of 16 of the Primera Division teams.”

Barcelona-based sports newspaper El Mundo Deportivo’s front page headline, meanwhile, pulled no punches about what it thought of the transfer fee.

“CR94. Madness!” it read, before adding: “Florentino exceeds all the limits to pay 94million for Cristiano. The football world is in shock and even (UEFA president Michel) Platini criticises it.”

Back in Portugal, news of the potential move has been met with similar scorn, with sports newspaper Record stunned by Real Madrid’s ability to defy the global economic crisis.

It read: “Real Madrid spend 94 million euros for Ronaldo in times of crisis.

“He will earn more in 24 hours than our president of the Republic in two months.”

The Italian press were equally miffed.

With AC Milan having sold Kaka to the Spanish giants for £59million less than 72 hours before United confirmed they had accepted the world-record bid for Ronaldo, Gazzetta dello Sport responded: “That’s not fair. Mad Real. After Kaka, Real Madrid sign Cristiano Ronaldo.”

French daily L’Equipe believes the transfer could provide United with the funds to make a bid for Lyon forward Karim Benzema.

It delivered the news with the headline: “Ronaldo breaks the bank.”

Inside, it read: “Benzema’s turn?”, with sub-headline: “In case of the departure of Carlos Tevez, the Lyon striker could become the main target of Manchester United, who have a lot of money to spend.”

The article continued: “Ferguson has already asked that (Lyon president) Jean-Michel Aulas inform him as a matter of priority the day Benzema is for sale.”

America’s Los Angeles Times was more worried about the impact on the Manchester hair-gel industry than the effect the transfer has had on world football.

Their headline read: “Real Madrid’s $131million bid to talk to Cristiano Ronaldo is a hair-raiser”.

It continued: “The hair-gel industry in north-west England suffered a catastrophic blow Thursday in a world-record sports transaction after which the soccer marvel Cristiano Ronaldo seemed Spain-bound.”

Manchester United have accepted a world record bid of 80 million pounds for Cristiano Ronaldo from Real Madrid.

United confirmed this morning they had accepted an £80million bid for the world player of the year, with a world-record deal expected to go through by June 30.

The news had been expected given Real stated last night talks were under way and now it is only a matter of finalising the player’s personal terms before he completes a dream move to the Bernabeu.

Real president Florentino Perez had already vowed to do “everything possible” to sign the 24-year-old and, unlike 12 months ago, Sir Alex Ferguson did not even attempt to talk Ronaldo round, knowing the former Sporting Lisbon player had his heart set on a move.

A United statement read: “At the request of Cristiano - who has again expressed his desire to leave - and after discussion with the player’s representatives, United have agreed to give Real Madrid permission to talk to the player.

“Matters are expected to be concluded by 30 June. The club will not comment until further notice.”

The news is bound to be greeted with some scepticism by United fans, who have repeatedly been told no deal had been agreed for the sale of FIFA’s World Player of the Year in the face of regular statements from Spain the former Sporting Lisbon star was bound for the Bernabeu.

It was even suggested Ronaldo would be due a £20million compensation fee from Real if the deal did not go through by June 30, the date United now state themselves as when they expect matters to be concluded.

As it now seems a matter of when, rather than if, a world-record transfer will be completed, Ferguson might wish to explain why he has gone back on his famous comment in December last year that he would not “sell that mob a virus”.

It is the first time for many years United will have allowed a player to leave they were not happy about losing. Yet some supporters may be pleased that at least another drawn-out transfer saga, such as the one 12 months ago, is not played out in public.

And at least the money could be reinvested in a squad that almost, but not quite, proved good enough to win back-to-back Champions League trophies, in addition to a hat-trick of Premier League titles.

And, in reshaping a squad that looks almost certain to lose Carlos Tevez as well, Ferguson might be able to offer Wayne Rooney a more permanent central striking role and fulfil the promise he has shown on the international stage this season.

The name of Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery is bound to crop up as a potential replacement, although the 27-year-old seems hugely overpriced at the £40million figure being bandied about in some quarters, with Wigan’s Antonio Valencia also in the frame.

Ferguson will certainly be making plans already to ensure his new faces are on board before United head to Asia for their pre-season tour five weeks from today.

Amid the frenzy over Ronaldo’s impending departure, it is bound to be asked whether the current debt hanging over United of almost £700million has played any part in the decision to accept Real’s huge bid.

While Ferguson has always backed the Glazer family for the support he has received, supporters will now be interested to see whether their manager is handed all the funds received from Spain, plus an annual transfer kitty said to be around £25million.

With Edwin van der Sar, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville all reaching the end of their careers, it promises to be a far more testing summer than Ferguson might have realised.

And, for all the petulance and pouting for which Ronaldo is so famed, filling the void created by the loss of his immense talent may prove difficult.

Manchester City have offered Real Madrid 40 million euros for striker Raul, according to reports in Spain.

Spanish sports daily Marca are reporting that City have made the first move to sign the 31-year-old Spanish forward, with contact having been made between representatives of City owner Sheikh Mansour and Raul’s agent.

Raul, a five-time La Liga winner and three-time Champions League victor has been strongly recommended to City by ex team-mate Robinho, who made his own shock move from Madrid to Eastlands in August last year.

Raul is under contract with Real until 2011 but has an extension clause linked to the number of games he plays each season.

Earlier this year he became the club’s all time top scorer and any attempt to sell him would be sure to cause uproar amongst the Bernebeu faithful.

However, the possible return to power of former president Florentino Perez may have an impact on the situation as Perez and Raul reportedly have a less than cordial relationship.

City have been quick to denounce a host of claims linking them with various players throughout Europe this season, so it remains to be seen if a swift denial is forthcoming in this case.

Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo has admitted his dream of playing with Spanish giants Real Madrid may be over.

The Portuguese winger has handed United a huge boost as they head into the business end of the season by declaring that a move to the Bernebeu is no longer in his thoughts.

Ronaldo has been constantly linked with a move to the Primera Liga side but with three years still left on his contract it seems that he accepted, for now, that his future is to be at Old Trafford.

Speaking to The People newspaper he said “I’m no longer thinking of Madrid, that dream is dead.

“The only thing I dream about now is Manchester United and winning the Champions League again in Rome.”

Captain Steven Gerrard is in the Liverpool squad to face Real Madrid in the Champions League last-16 tie.

Gerrard has been out for three weeks with a hamstring injury but was able to take part in training at Melwood this morning and is poised to travel to the Spanish capital.

The England star was thought to have been close to featuring in yesterday’s 1-1 Barclays Premier League draw with Manchester City but was ruled out by manager Rafael Benitez late last week.

Benitez told www.liverpoolfc.tv: “Steven will be in the squad. He was okay in training this morning.

“It was a special training session so we were not testing him 100%, but he trained okay so we will see.”

Gerrard has not played for the Reds since limping out of the FA Cup fourth round replay defeat at Everton on February 4.

His return would be a huge boost for Benitez after yesterday’s disappointment, which saw Liverpool end the weekend seven points behind leaders Manchester United.

Xabi Alonso also missed the match against City through suspension but can return at the Bernabeu, raising the prospect of Benitez being able to select his first choice midfield against the club whose youth teams he used to coach.