Cristiano Ronaldo made his Saudi Pro League debut for Al Nassr on Sunday, as his side beat Ettifaq 1-0, at the King Saud University Stadium on Sunday. This comes after Ronaldo played for a combined XI from Al Nassr and Al Hilal in an exhibition match against Lionel Messi’s PSG.
The victory on Sunday helped Al Nassr climb to the top of the table with 33 points from 14 games, ahead of Al Hilal (32 points from 15 matches). Talisca was the solitary goalscorer in the match, when he headed the winner in the 31st-minute after Abdulmajeed Al-Sulaiheem’s cross was too high for Ronaldo. But the former Manchester United star didn’t seem to find that he failed to score as he ran to celebrate with the midfielder and rest of his new teammates.
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After the match, Ronaldo had a special message for his teammates and fans. Taking to Twitter, he posted photos from the match which he captioned as, “First game, first win – well done guys Thanks to all the fans for incredible support.”
Reacting to Ronaldo’s message, one fan wrote, “37 and still on top.”
“At the age of thirty-seven, as if he is twenty years old, here you really know that he is legendary”, another fan added.
“One of the nicknames of Al-Nasr Club is (Fares Najd), which means the brave man, and Cristiano, after joining Al-Nassr, became one of the brave men we bet on for more achievements”, another fan added.
Ronaldo joined Al Nassr for a sensational 2-1/2 year contract recently, estimated to be worth more than 200 million euros. He saw his Manchester United get terminated after a controversial interview with British broadcaster Piers Morgan, where he criticised the club’s hierarchy and head coach Erik ten Hag.