One of the longest running, most boring and mind-bogglingly irritating transfer sagas in the history of modern football has come to its inevitable conclusion.
Cristiano Ronaldo, who has been pleading for a move to Madrid pretty much since he first pulled on a Manchester United shirt, finally got his way last week when the two sides agreed a staggering £80 million transfer.
And, according to reports, it was a deal that was agreed months ago, making a mockery out of Sir Alex Ferguson's claims that his star winger (whinger?) wouldn't be leaving any time soon.
On a personal level I am both disappointed and ecstatic that Ronaldo is off. Sad because he is undoubtedly a world-class player and the Premier League will be a poorer place without his talents on display. Happy because I won't have to look at his egotistical, self-centred, super-slappable face quite as often.
Unusually in a transfer of this magnitude I think all parties actually win.
Real get their second superstar in a week, which will help them as they attempt to rebuild their tarnished image as one of the world's biggest clubs. Combined with Kaka's move, this really does signal the beginning of the second 'galacticos' era.
United, on the other hand, get an absolutely huge amount of money and I am fairly sure Sir Alex will be able to invest most, if not all, of it in his squad. Give me four £20 million players over one £80 million player any day of the week.
Ronaldo, obviously, wins too. He has got the move he has always dreamed of and a salary that few could dream of, reported to be in the region of £10 million a year with a built-in 25 per cent annual pay rise. Nice work if you can get it.
When news of the transfer broke, Ronaldo was on holiday in the US and he did what many others would do if they could, and spent the evening celebrating with Paris Hilton. From Manchester to Madrid after a night in Paris.
Michel Platini jumped on the bandwagon too, declaring that transfers like this one and the Kaka one earlier in the week make a mockery of the level playing field he wants for European football. Well as fine as those sentiments may be, I think that particular ship sailed a while ago.
Ultimately, this is a transfer we all knew was going to happen sooner or later. Since the season before last, Ronaldo has not looked happy at United. He has played for the club but only in body, not in spirit. And that's why I think everyone wins from the deal.
In fact, my only concern is that Real Madrid may not have shopped around enough before deciding how to spend their hard-earned money.
I mean, didn't they notice that for an extra £20 million they could have had the whole of Newcastle...?
The Real deal, part 2
I've been a football fan for a good number of years and over that time I have heard some pretty daft statements.
I've heard managers blame heavy defeats on the colour of their kits, players blaming the lack of shopping facilities on their decision to pull out of a transfer, and chairmen blaming the fans for relegation.
But I think Kaka's claim that he left Milan to join Real Madrid because of the recession must be up there with the most ludicrous nonsense I have ever come across.
For the most part, the Brazilian appears to be a sensible and loyal young man with his feet firmly on the ground. But that sort of statement is just plain silly.
I can understand him wanting to leave the Italian club for pastures new. After all, he has been there for six years, which is an absolute age in football terms.
But to claim he did it to financially help Milan is utterly bizarre.
"I wanted to stay, but the world crisis affected my decision." Those were his exact words.
Funny how that same world crisis, which was probably at its peak back in January, didn't persuade him to move to Manchester City when £100 million was on the table.
It's true that there is a considerable difference in the stature of the two clubs. While Real are a team of substance and legend, City are just new rich kids with aspirations beyond their station.
But even so, I am sure the extra £44 million would have helped Milan ride out the recession and may even have put a bigger smile on the face of Mr Berlusconi than a classroom full of 18-year-old students.
I think the reality is that Kaka needed to freshen things up. He admitted during his press conference that he had been offered more money to go elsewhere but that he had his heart set on Real Madrid.
And that, by way of explanation, would have been fine.
Like the Ronaldo move above, I think this is another example where everybody wins. Except, of course, Manchester City.
When their offer in January was turned down they could have written it off as an attempt to buy a player who just wasn't interested in leaving his current club.
When that same player moves a few months later for a considerably smaller fee they must realise that their new-found wealth is not going to buy them the success they crave.
And for that I think Kaka deserves a warm round of applause.
If more players put principles ahead of cash then maybe billionaires will start to think twice before infecting football with their greed-based lust for glory.
Power to the people
Under normal circumstances I wouldn't have bothered much about England's match against Andorra. In football terms it was always going to be a foregone conclusion, the only real question being how many the minnows would let in.
However, Wednesday's match had a whole different significance, being as it was the last football game before the close season. The last chance to see any English team kick a competitive ball for a couple of months.
Yes, there is the Under-21 championships, but those don't really count.
And so, come Wednesday evening, I sat down all ready to watch a game that would need to be entertaining enough to keep me going for the long, football-free summer.
Then the electricity went off.
I can't remember the last time we had a power cut at home. Must be going back a couple of years, at least. But there I was, sat on the sofa in the dark, desperately clicking on the useless remote.
Still, I thought, there is over an hour till kick-off. Plenty of time for the experts to put back together whatever bit of wiring had fallen apart. Yeah right. It didn't come back on until 11.30 p.m., by which time Rooney and his mates were showered and heading for home.
It was almost as if someone did it on purpose. Not on Tuesday or Thursday. Not from 5 to 8 p.m. No. On a day and at a time that ensured the last remnants of my football season were completely wiped out.
I was, instead, reduced to reading updates on my mobile. God bless the technology that allows this to happen. But, it's just not the same is it?
On a positive note, England's comfortable 6-0 victory means they are now 10 points ahead of their group rivals and just one win away from qualifying for next summer's finals which are, incidentally, now just 362 days away.
This means there is every chance we could go into the last qualifying match without the must-win tension that normally comes with supporting England. It's a whole new feeling which will take time to get used to.
I suppose if that is the case then at least, come that last match, it won't really matter too much if the power goes out...
The Federer reserve
We all knew it was only a matter of time, but Roger Federer has finally cemented his place in history as one of the greatest sportsmen of all time. Not just in tennis terms but in sport in general.
His victory in the French Open meant he equalled Pete Sampras' all-time record of 14 grand slams at the same time as completing his own personal slam by claiming the one major title that had so far eluded him.
The achievement would have been all the sweeter for the Swiss star as it came at the end of a period when he has not been at the very top of his game. In fact, he has played second fiddle to Rafael Nadal for much of the past year.
Now I fully expect Federer to push on from here and shatter Sampras' record. After all, he is still only 27 and probably has a good three or four years of top quality tennis in him.
By doing that, he will have achieved something else - making the record books show something that most of us already know to be a reality.
Roger Federer is the best tennis player ever. End of story.
sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com