Cristiano Ronaldo has won his first trophy with Al Nassr, after scoring two important goals against Al Hilal in the final of the Arab Club Champions Cup on Saturday, August 12, 2023.
The 38-year-old has once again produced another clutch performance in a final of a major tournament.
Al Hilal took the lead in the Arab Club Champions Cup via a goal from Michael in the 51st minute, however, a second half equalizer from Ronaldo in the 74th minute brought the game to parity.
Cristiano Ronaldo then came up clutch in the 8th minute of extra-time, handing his side the decisive goal of the match.
Cristiano Ronaldo claimed the golden boot for the tournament, after finishing the competition as the top-scorer with 6 goals, 3 goals more than his former teammate at Real Madrid, Karim Benzema.
How many games did Ronaldo score for Al Nassr at the Arab Club Champions Cup?
The football icon scored in all bar one game which he featured in at the Arab Club Champions Cup, scoring against US Monastir and Zamalek SC in the group stage, in addition to scoring against Raja Casablanca and Al Shorta in the quarter-final and semi-final respectively.
Ronaldo failed to score against Al Shabab, in Al Nassr’s first encounter at the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup, after coming on as a substitute in the 62nd minute of the game.
The Portuguese joined Al Nassr in December 2022, after his acrimonious exit from Manchester United in November 2022.
Ronaldo’s brace against Al Hilal meant that the Portuguese has now scored 20 goals in 25 appearances for Al Nassr.
Winning his first major title with the Saudi Pro League side also signified the end of his two-year trophy drought.
However, the former Juventus attacker sustained an injury in extra-time and that saw him exit the game for substitute Ali Al-Hassan.
Ronaldo departed the encounter looking distraught on a motorized stretcher and that has given Al Nassr a major headache going into the 2023/24 season.
Al Nassr will commence the 2023/24 Saudi Pro League season with an away game against Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq on Monday, August 14, 2023.
Ronaldo sustained an Injury in the Arab Club Champions Cup final
The Riyadh-based club will be hoping that the injury sustained by Ronaldo isn’t a major one, as he is arguably the most integral player in Luis Castro’s set-up.
Cristiano Ronaldo finished as the 5th top-scorer in the Saudi Pro League last term, despite making his competitive debut for Al Nassr in January 2023.
The Portuguese scored in his first game in Saudi Arabia, netting a brace against Paris Saint Germain in a friendly on January 19, 2023.
Ronaldo netted his first goal for Al Nassr on February 3, 2023, scoring an important goal to salvage a draw for Al Nassr against Al Fateh FC.
His arrival to Saudi Arabia has signaled a massive influx of players to the Gulf country, with several high profile signings being made.
Karim Benzema, Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane, N’Golo Kante, Kalidou Koulibaly amongst others are players that have joined the Saudi Pro League.
Arab Club Champions Cup
The Arab Club Champions Cup is a yearly regional club football competition organized by the Union of Arab Football Associations (UAFA) and contested by top-tier teams from the Arab world.
Iraqi club Al-Rasheed and Tunisian club Espérance de Tunis are the most successful clubs in the history of the competition, having won the trophy on three occasions.
Cristiano Ronaldo has added another trophy to his illustrious kitty and it appears like it is the first of many to come with Al Nassr.
