Cristiano Ronaldo and Al Nassr face Riyadh derby litmus test against Al Hilal

The build-up to Al Nassr’s marquee match of the season has hardly been ideal.

Most recently, the Riyadh side were held to a goalless draw at Al Feiha, in the process slipping to three points behind leaders Al Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League with only seven matches remaining.

At full-time, and following another frustrating night in front of goal, Cristiano Ronaldo trudged down the tunnel, venting his anger at opposition players. Seemingly teammates, too.

Less than a week later, manager Rudi Garcia had left the club “by mutual agreement”, his final words in public the post-match television interview at Feiha, when the Frenchman placed the blame firmly at the players’ feet.

"The result is definitely bad, and we are not happy," Garcia said. "I don’t feel satisfied with the players' performance. I asked them to play at the same level as the last game [a 5-0 victory against Al Adalah], but this didn’t happen."

The consensus was that his comments did not go down well with an already dissatisfied playing staff. So, five days before Tuesday's Riyadh derby at arch-rivals Al Hilal, Garcia was gone.

Hired last summer and provided with the high-profile foreign recruits of goalkeeper David Ospina, defender Ghislain Konan, midfielder Luiz Gustavo and latterly Ronado - on reportedly the most expensive deal in football history - Garcia was deemed to not be delivering on the seismic investment.

In January, when Ronaldo arrived, Nassr were top of the table with 11 matches played, their superstar addition expected to propel the club to a first top-flight crown in four years.

After a delayed debut, and an underwhelming opening two games, Ronaldo did on the pitch what Ronaldo was brought to do. He scored eight goals in February to be named