Tag: Al Nassr

Cristiano Ronaldo convinced the referee to change his mind after awarding him a penalty in Al Nassr’s AFC Champions League 0-0 draw with Iran’s Persepolis.

The 38-year-old former Manchester United and Real Madrid great appeared to have been brought down by Soroush Rafiei inside the box and Chinese referee Ma Ning pointed to the spot.

Ronaldo leapt to his feet and approached the referee, wagging his finger, shaking his head and telling him there had been no foul.

After consulting VAR, the referee was sent to the pitch-side monitor and reversed his decision in the Group E clash in Riyadh.

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The Saudi Pro League side had to play most of the match with 10 men after Ali Lajami was given a straight red card for a shin-raking challenge in the 17th minute.

They also lost Ronaldo to a neck injury with 13 minutes remaining, caused by Persepolis goalkeeper Alireza Beiranvand landing on the Portuguese star when claiming a high ball.

But the 2018 and 2020 Champions League runners-up from Iran were unable to capitalise, the point proving enough for Al Nassr to seal their place in the knockout stages as group winners.

Ronaldo has little time to recover with Al Nassr facing Al Hilal on Friday in a top-of-the-table league clash.

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Cristiano Ronaldo rolled back the years to score two stunning goals and propel his Al Nassr side to a thrilling 4-3 victory over Al Duhail of Qatar in the AFC Champions League.

Former Liverpool striker Sadio Mane and Anderson Talisca also scored for the Saudi side late Tuesday as they made it three wins from three in the group stages of the premier Asian club competition.

Talisca opened the scoring in Riyadh from the edge of the box in the 25th minute after being teed up by the 38-year-old Ronaldo’s clever back-heeled flick as the Portuguese talisman went through his full repertoire of tricks.

Mane turned and drilled home to add a second 11 minutes after the break and Al Nassr appeared to be cruising when Ronaldo curled home a sumptuous third from outside the box to make it 3-0 five minutes later.

But the Qatari side, inspired by former Barcelona and Liverpool winger Philippe Coutinho, scored twice in the next six minutes through Ismail Mohamad and Almoez Ali to leave the game on a knife-edge.

With nine minutes remaining, Ronaldo appeared to have had the final say as he sprinted onto a long ball from Sultan Al Ghannam and lashed home a superb left-foot volley without breaking stride.

There was still time for another twist as Michael Olunga pulled it back to 4-3 in the 85th minute to ensure a nervous final few minutes.

“When you face Ronaldo, there isn’t much you can do,” said Al Duhail manager Christophe Galtier, who was in charge of French giants Paris Saint-Germain last season.

“He scored two beautiful goals. I’m at a loss for words to describe him. What he did today is extraordinary for a 38-year-old. He’s still the best player in the world.”

Another Riyadh-based side, Al Hilal, made light of being without their injured superstar Neymar as they thrashed India’s Mumbai City 6-0 with two goals from former Fulham frontman Aleksandar Mitrovic.

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Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr qualified for the Asian Champions League group stage after they secured an injury-time victory against Shabab Al Ahli in Riyadh on Tuesday.

The Saudi Pro League side came from behind to triumph 4-2 in the play-off at Mrsool Park, with Brazilian Anderson Talisca scoring twice and Croatia international Marcelo Brozovic rounding off the win.

Al Nassr had been two minutes from exiting the tournament.

The result means Al Nassr, runners-up domestically last season, move into the group phase, which begins next month.

Cristiano Ronaldo, a five-time UEFA Champions League winner, was making his debut in Asian football’s top club competition after signing for the Riyadh club last December.

Al Nassr opened the scoring in 11 minutes when Taslica headed home a Brozovic corner. However, Yahya Al Ghassani levelled for UAE champions Shabab Al Ahli seven minutes later, the winger slotting the ball into the Nassr net after the Dubai side countered.

Cristiano Ronaldo, 38, left the pitch at half-time clearly frustrated and could be seen arguing with the referee. The Portuguese star, the Nassr captain, believed he should have had two penalties in the first half.

Then, one minute after half-time, Al Ghassani raced clear of the Al Nassr defence to flick the ball over Nawaf Al Aqidi and put Shabab Al Ahli in front.

However, Al Nassr equalised with two minutes of normal time remaining, when full-back Sultan Al Ghannam’s header was diverted into his own goal by Walid Abbas.

Al Nassr’s comeback was complete five minutes into the allotted seven minutes of injury time, with Talisca nodding home from close range.

Moments later, as Shabab Al Ahli chased the equaliser, Ronaldo teed up Brozovic to drill his shot into the net and make safe the game.

Elsewhere in the west zone, UAE side Sharjah qualified for the tournament proper with a 3-1 victory away to Iran’s Tractor FC, while Uzbekistan’s Navbahor Namangan defeated Al Wakrah of Qatar 1-0 after extra time.

In Tuesday’s other play-off, Uzbek side AGMK Olmaliq defeated Qatar’s Al Arabi 1-0.

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Bayern Munich announced on Saturday that Senegalese striker Sadio Mane was in talks “about a change of club” with reports suggesting he was destined for Saudi side Al Nassr.

The German champions left Mane out of a friendly match in Tokyo, posting on social media: “Sadio Mane is in contract negotiations about a change of club and is therefore not in the line-up today.”

The 31-year-old former Liverpool star is expected to become the latest high-profile player to join the cash-rich Saudi league.

As Bild and Kicker magazine reported Sadio Mane was on his way for a medical with Al Nassr, and Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel declined to be drawn on the player’s future.

“We are still in the transfer window and I would like to see what’s going on and wait and see how things will happen,” he told reporters after Bayern’s 1-0 win over Kawasaki Frontale in Japan.

Sadio Mane would be another major signing for the club that pulled off the first coup of a raft of signings by Saudi clubs, luring Cristiano Ronaldo, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner.

Mane won the Champions League and Premier League in six seasons with Liverpool and was a key part of Jurgen Klopp’s devastating front three with Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino.

When Liverpool won their first English league title for 30 years in the pandemic-disrupted 2019-2020 season, Mane scored 18 goals.

But in the summer of 2022, when he won the African Player of the Year, Mane decided he wanted a new challenge — unconfirmed rumours said he had tired of sharing the limelight with Egypt’s Salah at Anfield.

Bayern made a big play for Mane, promising to make him the focal point of an attack which had just lost the services of Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona.

After a strong start to the season at Bayern, it soon become clear that Mane was not clicking in Bavaria.

In a Bundesliga game against Werder Bremen in November, Mane suffered an injury to his fibula and his season was put on hold.

The injury forced him to miss the World Cup in Qatar at the end of last year in a crushing blow to Senegal’s chances.

While Sadio Mane returned to the Bayern team in 2023, his problems were underlined when he became involved in a physical altercation with teammate Leroy Sane following a Champions League defeat to Manchester City.

Bayern reportedly fined Mane around 350,000 euros ($385,000) and gave him a one-match suspension for his part in the incident.

He ended the season with an underwhelming 12 goals in 38 games across all competitions.

He is set to quit Bayern with two years left on his contract.

On the international stage, Sadio Mane helped Senegal to the Africa Cup of Nations title in 2022.

Apart from Cristiano Ronaldo Al Nassr have also signed this summer Croatia midfielder Marcelo Brozovic, Brazil full-back Alex Telles and Ivory Coast midfielder Seko Fofana.

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RIYADH: Star player Cristiano Ronaldo has been making headlines due to his unexpected celebration after scoring a match-winner for Al-Nassr as he bowed for a Sujud followed by his trademark celebration.

Cristiano Ronaldo performed a Sujud, the act of low bowing or prostration to Allah facing the qiblah (direction of the Kabba at Mecca).

The star footballer then followed it up with his trademark “Siiuuu” celebration.

@Cristiano performing Sajood after leading Al-Nassar to crucial victory to stay Alive in Saudi league. What a sight. May Allah guide him to right path. Aameen#Al_NassarvsAl_Shahab #CristianoRonaldo #Ronaldo𓃵 pic.twitter.com/OWXsIlyWLE

— Khawaja Haris Ismail (@H_I_khawaja) May 24, 2023

 

The Portuguese great struck the match-winner in the 59th minute as Al Nassr fought back from 0-2 down to keep their title hopes alive in the Saudi Pro League.

The Riyadh derby was a crucial encounter for the second-placed Al Nassr as a defeat would mean that the leader Al-Ittihad, which beat Al-Batin 1-0 earlier, would be crowned the champions of the Saudi Pro League with two games to spare.

Cristian Guanca opened the scoring for Al-Shabab from the penalty spot in the 24th minute after Luiz Gustavo was booked for handball.

Guanca then struck again to double their lead in the 40th minute but the advantage was shortlived as Talisca struck to reduce the deficit for Al Nassr.

Abdulrahman Ghareeb then equalised in the 51st minute after being left unmarked in the box and slotting home from close range.

Cristiano Ronaldo put Al Nassr ahead just before the hour mark, racing past two defenders and curling a shot into the top corner from the outside of the area.

It is worth mentioning here that it was Ronaldo’s 14th goal for Al Nassr since joining the club after FIFA World Cup.

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RIYADH: Cristiano Ronaldo scored all of Al Nassr’s goals in a 4-0 rout of Al Wehda in the Saudi league on Thursday as he passed the 500 league goal mark in his club career.

The 38-year-old Portuguese star now has 503 goals scored for five different teams stretched across five leagues.

He hit three for Sporting Lisbon in his fledgling career, 103 for Manchester United over two spells, 311 for Real Madrid and 81 at Juventus.

Ronaldo now has five for Al Nassr who he joined after the World Cup following his bitter divorce from United.

On Thursday, he hit the 500 mark in the 21st minute with a left-footed strike.

He made it 2-0 with his right foot just before the interval before his hat-trick arrived from the penalty spot eight minutes into the second half.

It was his 61st career hat-trick.

He added a fourth just after the hour mark when he was first to a rebound.

Ronaldo had opened his account for his new employers last Friday with a stoppage-time penalty in a 2-2 away draw against Al Fateh.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who holds the all-time records for Champions League and international goals, is banking more than 400 million euros for his surprise move to Saudi, according to sources close to Al Nassr.

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AL-HASA: Cristiano Ronaldo got off the mark for his new Saudi paymasters Al Nassr on Friday with a stoppage-time penalty that rescued a 2-2 away draw against Al Fateh.

The Portuguese, who turns 38 on Sunday, buried the spot-kick in the 93rd minute for a point that left the Riyadh club joint top of the Saudi Pro League with a game in hand over Al Shabab.

Ronaldo broke his duck in his third appearance, after he fired blanks in the January 22 league win over Ettifaq and in this week’s Super Cup loss to Al Ittihad.

Days before his Al Nassr debut, he scored twice for a Saudi composite team in an entertaining 5-4 loss to a Paris Saint-Germain side featuring his great rival Lionel Messi.

The five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who holds the all-time records for Champions League and international goals, will bank more than 400 million euros for his surprise move to Saudi, according to sources close to Al Nassr.

The giant sum includes 200 million euros for promoting Saudi Arabia’s expected joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup, the sources told AFP.

Ronaldo has become a figurehead for the conservative kingdom’s push to improve its reputation through sports — a process that has drawn accusations of “sportswashing”, or trying to sanitise its human rights record.

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RIYADH: Star footballer Cristiano Ronaldo met his new Saudi club Al Nassr’s women’s side on Thursday to boost the players’ confidence before their next games.

Ronaldo, who signed a lucrative deal with the club worth around 200 million Euros in December last year following his bitter exit from Manchester United, has been in Riyadh since January and has so far played two games for the side.

He also faced off long-standing competitor Lionel Messi on January 17 when Qatar-owned PSG toured Saudi Arabia and played a friendly match against a select side made up of players from Al Nassr and their Saudi rivals Al Hilal.

In a video posted by Al Nassr on Thursday on their official Twitter account, Ronaldo was seen motivating the club women’s team and wishing them luck for their remaining two matches of the Saudi Women’s Premier League.

‘Keep going’ he said while giving a thumbs up to the team.

Our women stars have their support from the greatest 🤩

Ronaldo meets #AlNassr’s women football team ⚽️
And gives a message for the two remaining matches 💪🔝 pic.twitter.com/6KT4YMY4D2

— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) February 2, 2023

It is worth mentioning here that at his opening press conference in Riyadh last month, Ronaldo expressed his desire to be an inspiration, not just for young boys but also for female footballers in the country.

“I’m grateful that Al-Nassr gave me this opportunity to show and develop not only the football, but also for the generation, the young generation, the woman’s generation as well,” he had said.

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RIYADH: Portugese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo will be unveiled before thousands of fans at Saudi Arabia’s Al Nassr club on Tuesday, a spokesman said, after sealing a shock move estimated at more than 200 million euros.

The 37-year-old great, a five-time winner of the Ballon d’Or, will arrive late on Monday with his family together with media and technical staff, club spokesman Al-Walid Al-Muhaidib told AFP.

Ronaldo, who left Manchester United under a cloud after slamming the club in a TV interview, will appear at Al Nassr’s 25,000-capacity Mrsool Park stadium in Riyadh at 7:00 pm (1600 GMT) on Tuesday, officials said.

The latest, and possibly final, chapter in an illustrious career comes weeks after Portugal’s quarter-final exit from the World Cup in neighbouring Qatar, where his great rival Lionel Messi lifted the trophy with Argentina.

Ronaldo’s signing until June 2025 is just the latest foray into top-level sports by oil-rich Saudi, which has moved into Formula One, boxing and golf and snapped up English club Newcastle United.

Critics have dubbed the strategy “sportswashing” — an attempt by the conservative country to distract attention from its human rights record.

Al Nassr is expecting a full stadium for the unveiling, according to one official who did not want to be named because he was not authorised to speak to media.

Ronaldo is by far the biggest star to play in Saudi Arabia, although other heavyweights including George Weah, Pep Guardiola and Xavi also had stints in the wealthy Gulf in the twilight of their careers.

Al Nassr, the nine-time Saudi league champions, have called Ronaldo’s signing “more than history in the making”, claiming he will inspire the rest of the league and even the country.

In a tweet, Saudi Sports Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al-Faisal pledged to “support the rest of our clubs for quality deals with international stars soon”.

United terminated Ronaldo’s contract during the World Cup after an explosive interview where he said he felt “betrayed” by the club and had no respect for coach Erik ten Hag.

The Portuguese forward has long been one of the top-paid players in football, earning a reported salary of 31 million euros at Juventus before taking a pay-cut to rejoin United.

Ronaldo has won five Champions League titles (2008, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018), league titles in Italy (2019, 2020) with Juventus, in Spain (2012, 2017) with Real Madrid and in England (2007, 2008, 2009) with United.

He is also the top scorer in the Champions League and with the Portuguese national team, with whom he won Euro 2016.

In Qatar, he became the first man to score at five World Cups with his penalty in the group-stage win over Ghana.

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DAMMAM: Electrified Al Nassr fans chanted Cristiano Ronaldo’s name and performed his signature celebration style, dubbed as ‘Siiiu’, in the stands as they eagerly await the Portuguese star’s arrival in Saudi Arabia. 

Star footballer signed a historic $75 million a year deal with Saudi club Al Nassr on Friday with a contract of two years, following his bitter exit from Manchester United.

While the sales of Ronaldo’s new jersey skyrocketed just hours after the deal was signed, the club fans are very excited to watch their new hero in action.

In a viral video doing rounds on Twitter, Al Nassr fans can be seen chanting ‘Ronaldo, Ronaldo’ and shouting Siiiu, his famous style of goal celebration, during the Saudi Pro League match on Saturday.

https://twitter.com/E_A77/status/1609243889885405187

Ronaldo, 37, left Premier League giants Manchester United last month following an explosive television interview in which the forward said he felt betrayed by the club and did not respect their Dutch manager Erik ten Hag.

He represented Portugal in Qatar, where he became the first player to score in five World Cups after netting a penalty in his side’s opening Group H game against Ghana. Portugal were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Morocco.

Ronaldo said Qatar would probably be his last World Cup as he plans to retire at 40, with a move to Saudi Arabia likely to mark the swansong in the career of one of the game’s greatest current players alongside Lionel Messi.

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