Cristiano Ronaldo is finally set to make his first La Liga appearance of the season in tonight's game against Real Betis after completing his five-match ban for pushing a referee but have Real missed him? And if so, how much? We take a look.
It was something of a comedy of errors that led to Ronaldo being banned in the first place. His involvement in the confederations Cup with Portugal and subsequent tax issues meant that he was not fully fit by the time the Spanish Super Cup came around.
That led to the Portuguese starting on the bench in the away leg against Barcelona on August 13. Ronaldo duly came off the bench, scored, took his shirt off in celebration (for which he was booked), got booked again for diving just two minutes later and then pushed referee Ricardo De Burgos Bengoetxea before leaving the field, all in the space of just 24 minutes.
Whilst Real claimed the Super Cup in his absence, mainly thanks to the brilliance of Marco Asensio, they have certainly missed their talisman in the league, having drawn two of their opening four games.
An opening day victory over Deportivo was followed up by draws against Valencia and Levante before normal sevice was resumed with victory over Real Sociedad at the weekend.
Those costly draws, along with Lionel Messi's brilliance mean that Real already find themselves seven points behind arch-rivals Barcelona going into tonight's game against Betis, though they have played a game less than the Catalans.
In Ronaldo's absence, the burden fell on Karim Benzema and Gareth Bale to bring the goals and it is fair to say that both disappointed on that front, with both registering less shots, a lower shot accuracy and less goals per 90 minutes than Ronaldo did last season during his absence.
According to 'OPTA', the former missed six 'big chances' (chances a striker would be reasonably expected to score) against Valencia, with the latter missing three against Levante.
Bale has since been jeered by his own fans, though he was on the target in the weekend win.
With Benzema now injured, Ronaldo's return has come at the perfect timefor Zindeine Zidane, who will be hoping that the Portuguese can his the ground running on his return to league action.
Ronaldo will be eager to get going again and with a World Cup qualifying hat-trick against Faroe Islands and a two-goal salve against APOEL in the Champions League under his belt, he will be hoping that his finishing touch doesn't desert him as he looks to make Betis feel the brunt of his frustration.