Cristiano Ronaldo stormed out of the Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium without collecting his silver medal after his Al-Nassr side were thrashed 4-1 in Saturday’s Saudi Super Cup final.
The 39-year-old had been hoping to win his second trophy since moving to Saudi Arabia in January 2023 – after last season’s triumph in the Arab Club Champions Cup.
Ronaldo scored his first goal of the season in Wednesday’s 2-0 Super Cup semi-final win over Al-Taawoun and found the net again just before half-time to fire Al-Nassr 1-0 up in Saturday’s final.
n Ronaldo’s defence, Al-Hilal’s fourth goal was the result of some pretty awful play by his team-mates.
After a dismal attempt at playing out from the back resulted in goalkeeper Bento losing the ball to Malcom on the edge of the six-yard box, Ronaldo stood in the centre circle, put his hands together and gestured to his team-mates that they had been ‘sleeping’.
After the game, Al-Nassr’s players were presented with medals for coming second in the four-team tournament.
But former Real Madrid and Man United star Ronaldo had no interest in collecting his, so he walked out of the stadium empty-handed.
Ronaldo’s time at Al-Nassr has been a mixed bag to date.
His scoring record is very impressive. He has now bagged 66 times in 72 matches for the Riyadh outfit and he won last season’s Saudi Pro League Golden Boot.
However, Al-Nassr finished five points behind champions Al-Ittihad in Ronaldo’s first season – having topped the table prior to his arrival – and they then ended 14 points below Al-Hilal in the 2023-24 campaign.
Ronaldo has also been frustrated by the reception he has received from rival fans during his time in Saudi Arabia.
Nearly all of Al-Nassr’s away matches last season witnessed opposition supporters taunting Ronaldo by chanting the name of his great rival Lionel Messi.
Saturday’s final, which was played at a neutral venue, was no exception.
Al-Nassr will begin their latest Saudi Pro League campaign on Thursday when they host Al-Raed.
Ronaldo and Co are also due to compete in the King Cup and Champions League Elite this season.
The level of competition in Saudi Arabia has increased significantly since Ronaldo moved to the nation 19 months ago.
A host of big-name players have followed the Portuguese icon in swapping Europe for the Arab Gulf state, including Neymar, Sadio Mane, Riyad Mahrez, Marcelo Brozovic and Aymeric Laporte.
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund – which owns Al-Nassr, Al-Hilal, Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad, as well as Newcastle United in England’s Premier League – has been behind most of the big-money moves.
It was recently reported that the PIF tried to strike a deal to tempt Vinicius Junior to leave Real Madrid for Al-Ahli by proposing a five-year contract worth €1 billion.
However, Vinicius is said to have rebuffed the offer, which would have seen him effectively match Ronaldo’s annual Al-Nassr salary of around €200m.
Source. dailymail.co.uk
