Cristiano Ronaldo guided Al Nassr to a 1-0 win over Ettifaq in his Saudi Pro League debut, despite failing to score. Talisca headed the winner in the 31st minute after Abdulmajeed Al-cross Sulaiheem’s was too high for Ronaldo, who celebrated with the Brazilian midfielder and the rest of his new teammates. Al Nassr, which has played 14 games, overtook defending champion Al Hilal by a point. After one of the most shocking transactions in football history, Al Nassr fans had to wait three weeks to watch their new hero play.
Ronaldo played for a joint Al Nassr and Al Hilal XI against Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain on Thursday. Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, is the all-time Champions League top-scorer with five trophies and seven domestic championships with Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus. Ronaldo also holds the record for career goals with 819 and international goals with 118 for Portugal, who won Euro 2016. Last year in Qatar, he became the first to score at five World Cups. After an emotional TV interview in which he criticized manager Erik ten Hag and the club’s owners, he shockedly moved to Al Nassr. The club benched and suspended Ronaldo. After Portugal lost in the quarterfinals against Morocco, he was benched in the knockout rounds and departed the field in tears. The agreement with the Saudi club may make the Portugal star the world’s highest-paid player, according to media sources.
Musalli Almuammar, president of Al Nassr, would not disclose Ronaldo’s two-and-a-half-year deal, but claimed the 37-year-old deserves to be the world’s highest-paid athlete. Saudi Arabia’s use of sports to promote itself is fueled by the pact. Newcastle is owned by Saudi Arabia’s national wealth fund, which is mulling a 2030 World Cup bid. While Saudi Arabia overcame eventual winner Argentina in its first group-stage game at the World Cup in Qatar, its local league has few stars and is not followed by a large worldwide audience.
