March 22, 2024
It didn't take long for Cristiano Ronaldo to start breaking records in Saudi Arabia. The Portuguese forward is always chasing new challenges and he already managed to score 50 goals for his new club: Al Nassr FC.
Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is used to setting records and the 39-year-old reached yet another career milestone on Friday (Mar 15th) when he scored his 50th goal for Al-Nassr in the club's narrow 1-0 triumph over Al-Ahli at the King Abdullah Sports City. The veteran showcased his ice-cold composure to convert the 68th minute penalty kick that ultimately won the game for Al-Nassr and despite his advancing years, Ronaldo remains one of the game's most devastating finishes. Ronaldo is the Saudi Pro League's leading marksman this season with 22 goals, though he will need to maintain his superb strike rate to see off Al-Hilal's Aleksandar Mitrovic in the race for the campaign's Golden Boot. Despite Ronaldo's prolific touch in front of goal, Al-Nassr remain 14 points behind Mitrovic's Al-Hilal at the summit of the Pro League standings.
Cristiano Ronaldo - Bangers for Al Nassr:
While Ronaldo would have been pleased at reaching his latest milestone from a personal perspective, it has been in truth, a week of disappointment overall for the iconic forward.
With hopes of a first league title since 2019 all but extinguished, Al-Nassr's quest for glory on the continent ended last week when they were dumped out of the AFC Champions League by the UAE's Al-Anin in the quarter-finals.
A goal from Ronaldo in the 188th minute of the second-leg to send the tie to penalties, however, missed efforts from Marcelo Brozovic, Alex Telles and Otavio put paid to Al-Nassr's chances of success.
Al-Nassr had been listed among the frontrunners in betting markets to win the competition outright and while many betting sites with free bets featured the Saudia Arabian outfit in their bonuses and promotions for the AFC Champions League, the favourites failed to live up to their reputation.
The season's two biggest prizes are now out of reach for Ronaldo and Al-Nassr, however, there is still some silverware on offer in the form of the Saudi Arabian Super Cup and the King's Cup, with semi-final tests against Al-Hilal and Al Khaleej on the horizon in those tournaments.
Cristiano Ronaldo's finishing skills have been razor-sharp since moving to Al-Nassr from Manchester United in January 2023, and the attacker needed just 58 appearances in Saudi Arabia to reach his 50-goal milestone for the Knights of Najd.
One of football’s most potent history makers, Ronaldo etched yet another record into the game’s annals on March 11th, when he became the first player in the history of top-level professional football to win 800 games.
Despite Al-Nassr's eventual elimination at the hands of Al-Anin in the AFC Champions League, the 4-3 victory for the Saudi club that took the tie to penalty kicks allowed Ronaldo to reach that historic 800-victory mark.
Cristiano Ronaldo's lengthy list of wins includes 316 victories for Real Madrid, 214 for Manchester United, 125 for Portugal at international level, 91 for Italian giants Juventus, 42 for current employers Al-Nassr and 13 for his boyhood club, Sporting Lisbon.
Incredibly, the all-time leading goalscorer in football history needs just 121 efforts to hit 1,000 career goals and still in superb physical condition, Ronaldo has the longevity to make that haul a realistic target before he finally hangs up his boots.
Cristiano Ronaldo has always had an eye for the spectacular, though his immaculately-struck brace from distance against Al Duhail in October last year rank near the top of his goal catalogue since moving to Saudi Arabia.
Al-Nassr were already two goals to the good in their AFC Champions League group match against Al Duhail, before the five-time Ballon d'Or winner cut in from the right and unleashed a left-footed rocket into the top corner from 25 yards out.
However, Ronaldo wasn’t ready to rest on his laurels and when Al Duhail reduced the deficit with two goals of their own, CR7 responded in typically explosive fashion in the game's dying embers.
Tracking a pinged cross-field pass from teammate Sultan Al Ghannam, Ronaldo allowed the ball to drop before unleashing a sublime, volleyed first-time effort with his left foot which rifled into the bottom corner.
However, just a couple of weeks later, Ronaldo eclipsed those wonder strikes with another pearlier in early November, this time in the Saudi Pro League against Al Khaleej.
With the score deadlocked at 0-0 in the 25th minute, Ronaldo picked up a pass with his back to goal from Aymeric Laporte. Feinting and spinning to find space, Ronaldo manoeuvred his way into a gap at the edge of the box before losing a defender with a clever fake shot.
Shifting the ball back from his left foot to his right, Ronaldo let fly with a dipping, swerving effort from 30 yards that walloped the back of the net just inside the right-hand post.
However, such is Ronaldo's continued prowess in the final third, we expect the record-breaking iconic superstar to top those strikes soon...
Cristiano Ronaldo next game for Portugal is on March 26, against Slovenia. You can watch Slovenia vs Portugal, Italy vs Venezuela, Spain vs Colombia, England vs Brazil, Argentina vs El Salvador and Netherlands vs Scotland, all matches provided from our streaming football game pages.
Portugal next game:
Slovenia vs Portugal kick-off time (26-03-2023):
Beijing (China) | UTC/GMT+7: 02:45
India (New Delhi) | UTC/GMT+4.30: 00:15
Saudi Arabia (Riyadh) | UTC/GMT+2: 21:45
Spain (Madrid) | UTC/GMT+1: 20:45
Portugal and England (Lisbon/London) | UTC/GMT+0: 19:45
Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) | UTC/GMT-3: 16:45
New York (United States) | UTC/GMT-4: 15:45
Los Angeles (United States) | UTC/GMT-7: 12:45
Sources: ronaldo7.net / goal.com / talksport.com
