Ronaldo had an explosive television interview with Piers Morgan in which he said he felt betrayed by Manchester United and did not respect their Dutch manager Erik Ten Hag. After this interview, both Man United and Ronaldo agreed to a mutual termination of the contract making Ronaldo a clubless free agent and many wondered where he would go next.
In December of 2022, Ronaldo signed a deal with Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr until 2025 with the five-time Ballon d’Or winner set to earn £177m per year. “I am eager to experience a new football league in a different country. Al Nassr club’s vision is very inspiring,” the Saudi outfit quoted Ronaldo as saying.
Ronaldo signs for Al Nassr in December 2022. Image credit; Al Nassr FC
Ronaldo scored his first goal in Saudi Arabia in January 2023. The goal came in a friendly against Paris Saint-Germain while playing for a team featuring players from Al Nassr FC and Al Hilal SFC and since then has been racking up goals and accolades like nobody’s business.
First Season (2022/2023)
image credit; Al Nassr FC
While the Portuguese forward didn’t score in his first league game for the club as he made his debut in a 1-0 win against Al-Ettifaq he immediately started racking up goals in his second league game in which he scored his first league goal in a draw against Al Fateh. He scored his first Saudi Pro League hat trick in a 4-0 win against Al Wehad and his second hat trick for the club in a 3-0 win over Damac.
He also won the Saudi Pro League Player of the Month in February after scoring eight goals and assisting twice.
Although he did not win a trophy in his first season with Al-Nassr, Ronaldo helped Al-Nassr to a second-place finish in the Saudi Pro League as he scored 14 goals and made two assists in his 16 league appearances for the club; a dominant performance given the short time he played for the club proving that he was far from finished as a footballer.
Second Season (2023/2024)
Ronaldo wins the Arab Club Championship with Al Nassr. Image credit; Al Nassr FC
In his second season, Ronaldo won his first trophy with Al-Nassr and the club’s first-ever Arab Club Championship Cup finishing as the competition’s top scorer with six goals. He scored twice in the final to secure Al Nassr a 2-1 win over fellow Saudi side Al-Hilal at the King Fahd Stadium in August 2023. He was named man of the match and awarded the Golden Boot for his six goals in the competition.
Ronaldo wins the Arab Club Championship Golden Boot
In the SPL, he was off to a blistering start as he won both August and September Player of the Month awards after scoring five goals and assisting twice in August. He followed it up with another five goals and three assists in his four appearances in September to win the September POTM award as well.
Ronaldo wins Saudi Pro League September Player of the Month
He ended 2023 as the world’s top goal scorer after scoring 54 goals in all competitions for Al Nassr and Portugal. He beat the likes of Harry Kane, Kylian Mbappe, and Erling Haaland to win the Maradona Award for best goal scorer of the year 2023.
Ronaldo wins the Maradona Award at the 14th edition of the Dubai Globe Soccer Awards
39-year-old Ronaldo is currently leading this season’s race for the Saudi Pro League Golden Boot with 23 goals after he scored his 50th goal for the club in a 1-0 win over Al-Ahli on Friday from the penalty spot.
So far, Cristiano Ronaldo has 37 goals and 11 assists in the Saudi Pro League, six goals and two assists in the AFC Champions League, and one goal in the Saudi King Cup. This brings his tally to 50 goals and 13 assists in 58 appearances for Al-Nassr averaging 83 minutes per goal contribution; exceptional stats by any standard.
image credit; one football on X
Al Nassr is currently second in the league, 12 points behind league leaders Al Hilal. With only six matches left till the end of the season, Ronaldo’s chances of winning the league with Al Nassr this season are very slim. Maybe next season?
All the stats and metrics confirm that Ronaldo is showing no signs of slowing down as he is doing pretty great at Al Nassr and will only get better as the team grows. He is yet to win the Saudi Pro League trophy but this is only his first full season with the club. As an individual, Ronaldo appears to be in excellent form with no signs of stopping any time soon. How long do you think he can keep this up?