Virtuoso 4-goal show confirms Cristiano Ronaldo has arrived in Saudi football

There are usually a few nerves when a team goes into a big game missing their — and the league’s — top goalscorer. These, however, are not normal times in the Rohsn Saudi League, or for Al-Nassr.

Anderson Talisca may have been suspended, but up stepped Cristiano Ronaldo to give a virtuoso performance and announce he has well and truly arrived in Saudi football.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner scored all four goals on Thursday night in the win over Al-Wehda that did more than just put Al-Nassr back on top of the standings.

With two goals in each half, the forward, 38, reminded a sell-out crowd and those watching around Saudi Arabia and the rest of the world that he is not just a legend of the game — a big name to lift the profile of the club and league. The reason that he is all those things is because he is, first and foremost, a world-class talent.

There were no spectacular volleys or overhead kicks, though such strikes will surely come sooner or later, but the goals were expertly taken from a striker who knows perhaps better than anyone else how to put the ball in the net. At this rate, with five goals in three games, the former Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United star may end up catching Talisca and his current 13 goals.

Although Ronaldo now has over 500 league goals in his career, his hunger for more goals was striking. Whether his last goal was scored two games ago or two minutes, the desire remains. The frustration last weekend when he missed chances in a 2-2 draw at Al-Fateh was clear for all to see and it took a last-minute penalty to get him off the mark in Saudi Arabia. 

The fact that the spot-kick was his only goal for the five-time UEFA Champions League winner in the first two league games in