Dubliners push Galacticos all the way

Cristiano Ronaldo makes his debut in Real colours at Tallaght Statium

On the night when the world's most expensive footballer made his debut for Real Madrid, Dublin's Shamrock Rovers came agonisingly close to holding the Galacticos scoreless.

Cristiano Ronaldo dominated the headlines before kickoff in Dublin and he duly produced some of his trademark tricks in the 45 minutes he played.

But it was another big money signing - Frenchman Karim Benzema - who broke Irish hearts with an 87th minute winner against the south Dublin side.

Ronaldo - booed for much of his time on the pitch - said he had enjoyed the pre-season friendly and paid tribute to Rovers.

"We played against a good team today and I enjoyed playing," he told Sky Sports.

"We trained hard all week and now I played 45 minutes, I think it's a good thing."

The 24-year-old Portuguese star signed from Manchester United in a world record-breaking £80m (93 million euro) move this summer, but not everyone was impressed.

One banner in the Tallaght stadium read "95m for a stick - 10k for a Twigg" - a reference to the fee Rovers paid for striker Gary Twigg.

About 11,000 packed into a ground with a normal capacity of 3,000 and supporters began passing through the turnstyles more than an-hour-and-a-half before kick-off.

The added temporary seating narrowed the playing field and helped Rovers push Madrid all the way.

The part-timers even had a couple of great chances to take the lead before Benzema struck to cruelly deny them an historic result.