Cristiano Ronaldo reignites Al Nassr’s title bid amid rumours of Saudi exit

Cristiano Ronaldo reignited Al Nassr’s Saudi Pro League title bid with a match-winning display against Al Raed in Riyadh on Friday night.

The Portuguese star, without a goal in his past three matches, took only four minutes to open the scoring at Mrsool Park as Nassr sealed a first victory in four fixtures.

Ronaldo, the Nassr captain, then had a significant hand in his side's second, struck 10 minutes into the second half by Abdulrahman Ghareeb. Substitutes Mohammed Maran and Abdulmajeed Al Sulaiheem completed the scoring in the final minutes.

The 4-0 win keeps alive the nine-time Saudi champions’ hopes of clinching a first top-flight crown since 2019. Nassr sit second in the table, three points behind Al Ittihad with five matches remaining. Ittihad, however, have a game in hand.

Reports in Spain this week claimed Ronaldo, 38, was unhappy with his first four months in Saudi Arabia and seeking a return to Europe. He signed a two-and-a-half-year deal with Nassr in late December, said to be worth more than $200 million per year.

The former Manchester United, Juventus and Real Madrid forward was therefore always going to command the majority of attention on Friday.

Looking to bounce back from Monday’s shock King’s Cup semi-final exit to Al Wehda, Nassr raced out of the blocks against Raed.

Not long into the match, the ball was cleared only partially to Nassr full-back Sultan Al Ghannam, who crossed invitingly for Ronaldo to head home - his 11th goal in 12 league matches.

In first-half injury-time, Ronaldo rounded goalkeeper Silviu Lung but ran the ball too wide before pulling back for Ahmed Yahya to blaze over. Roanldo, though, had been flagged offside.

At the beginning of the second half, Nassr had to survive a serious