With video
Cristiano Ronaldo took the next step towards the historic milestone of a thousand goals on Wednesday evening. During the top match in the Saudi Pro League between Al-Nassr and Al-Ahli, he headed home. It is the 970th goal of his career for the 41-year-old attacker from Portugal.
Ronaldo’s goal, scored in the 76th minute, will probably not find a prominent place in the collective memory, but it counts just as much. Ronaldo headed home after a well-placed corner kick from the left by his compatriot João Félix. The final score of the match against Al-Ahli, the number three in the Saudi competition, was set at 2-0. French striker Kingsley Coman doubled the lead in the 90th minute.
Almost immediately after the 2-0, the goalscorers Ronaldo and Coman were replaced by the Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus. Five minutes earlier, Sadio Mané, the other star player at the top club, had already been substituted. Portuguese international João Félix played the entire match, which was only blown after thirteen minutes of extra time.
Under 71-year-old Jorge Jesus (former success coach at Benfica and Flamengo), Al-Nassr has been performing excellently for months, with 38 victories in 44 matches. The last twenty games were all won. With 25 goals in 26 league matches, Ronaldo is third on the top scorers list in the Saudi Pro League, shortly behind Julián Quiñones (28 goals for Al-Qadsiah) and Ivan Toney (27 goals for Al-Ahli).
Al-Ittihad became champions last season, but Steven Bergwijn’s club is now sixth with 31 points less than Al-Nassr.
Controversial national championship?
There is therefore a good chance that Ronaldo will soon claim his first national title in Saudi Arabia. Al-Nassr is seven points ahead of number two Al-Hilal with four games to go. Number three Al-Ahli no longer has a chance. Next Sunday (8 p.m.) Ronaldo and his teammates can become champions in the away match at Al Qadsiah, the number four in the competition.
After Wednesday’s match, Turkish defender Merih Demiral again complained about the role of arbitration. “The refereeing decisions are really absurd, I swear… Look at my leg. They make every decision in favor of Al-Nassr. Every season they are pushed to the title. It’s unbelievable, it really is.”
After an interview, Ronaldo was critical of players who spoke out in this way about the Saudi Pro League.
“After the end of the season I will talk in detail about what bad things are happening in this competition, because I see a lot of bad things happening. Many players complain and post messages on their accounts via Instagram and Facebook, where they complain about the refereeing and the competition. That is absolutely not good; this is not the goal of the competition. We must be an example, also for the competitions in Europe,” said the 41-year-old Portuguese.
“We have to stop this complaining style and talk to the association to solve this, because this is not football. What is happening is not good for the competition, everyone is complaining. Everyone is exaggerating in complaining, but this is football and not a war. Everyone wants to win the competition, but that does not mean it has to become chaos.
Already champion in Europe seven times
Ronaldo previously won the national championship in England (in 2007, 2008 and 2009 with Manchester United), in Spain (in 2012 and 2017 with Real Madrid) and in Italy (in 2019 and 2020 with Juventus). In addition to his seven national titles, he also won the Champions League five times: in 2008 with Manchester United and in 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2018 with Real Madrid.
Of his 970 goals to date, he scored five for Sporting, 145 for Manchester United, 450 for Real Madrid, 101 for Juventus, 125 for Al-Nassr and 143 for the Portugal national team. Next summer he will play his twelfth final tournament with Portugal, for which he made his debut in 2003 and with which he already became European champion in 2016.
