The UAE is a star-struck place. Are you a celebrity? A sorta celebrity? Drop on by, especially in Dubai, and we will make a fuss over you. Kim Kardashian could tell you about it.

Thus, it was not difficult to imagine how big a stir the Real Madrid soccer team would make.

Real Madrid is one of the three or four most followed soccer clubs in the world. Its nearest competitors would be Barcelona, Bayern Munich, maybe Manchester United and Paris Saint-Germain. AC Milan, once upon a time.

Madrid has the edge, at the moment, because it won its 10th European championship in May (the Champions League, as it is now known), and it has on the team a certain Cristiano Ronaldo, the best player on the planet, at the moment.

Real Madrid arrived in Dubai today on Emirates (the club’s shirt sponsor), for tonight’s awards show and tomorrow’s friendly with AC Milan, and more than a little chaos broke out.

We saw it at the Real Madrid Cafe, sort of a football themed Hard Rock Cafe, located near the beach in an upscale part of the city. It was a mob scene there, with an estimated 1,500 people in and around the place, and the team seemed to battle in, look around and get out. (One player tweeted that the fans there were too intense.)

Up next was the Globe Soccer Awards, a sort of chaotic, ad hoc event being staged at the self-described “seven star” hotel, Atlantis The Palm.

We at The National covered this event (including the photo gallery), and it went pretty much as one would expect. Late and over the top.

Ronaldo, sometimes known as CR7 (his initials, plus his jersey number), was here to get the Best Player as well as Fan Favorite awards. His teammate, since August, James Rodriguez, got recognition as Revelation of the Year, and his coach, Carlo Ancelotti, got two trophies — for Best Coach and Best Media Attraction. (He probably got the second award just for going to press conferences, which players in Europe almost never attend.) The club president got an award and Madrid was named team of the year.

The event began late, and ran long, and it was a bit crazy when Ronaldo left the stage, as he was mobbed by selfie-crazed fans at the “gala banquet”.

Then it ended, and everyone connnected to Real Madrid pretty much fled the premises. It’s hard to be at the top of the heap, particularly in Dubai, where stars are a Very Big Deal.