Cristiano Ronaldo raised eyebrows on Saturday night with another controversial move during Al-Nassr’s Super Cup final loss to Al-Hilal.
Since winning his first trophy – the 2023 Arab Clubs Champions Cup – with Al-Nassr, the Portuguese has been starved of silverware. His on-field heroics for the Riyadh-based outfit has paled into insignificance with the disturbing trophy drought.
In his two seasons with the club, they have finished as runners-up on the Saudi Por League table. Last season, arch-domestic rivals Al-Hilal aced through the competition for the Saudi Championships to clinch the title.
More concerning was the fact that the Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr side fell off in the title race despite the Portuguese’s record-breaking goal haul. At the Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium on Saturday, Al-Nassr had a chance to harvest a pound of flesh from Al-Hilal, who beat them to the title last season.
The two Saudi Pro League giants clashed in the final of the 2024 Saudi Super Cup after respective semi-final victories. At halftime, Ronaldo was already close to adding another silverware to his shelf. He opened the scoring for the team and the goal was enough to see them take the lead at the break.
However, a dramatic turnaround in the second half saw Ronaldo’s trophy dreams shattered to the smithereens. A magical performance by two Serbian footballers – Millinkovic-Savic and Aleksander Mitrovic – turned the game around for Al-Hilal.
Millinkovic-Savic opened the scoring for Al-Hilal in the 55th minute, thanks to an assist by Serbian teammate and former Fulham forward Mitrovic. The goal pegged back Al-Nassr to a 1-1 draw and that was not enough.
A quickfire brace, six minutes apart, by Mitrovic saw Al-Hilal raced to a 3-1 lead. Three minutes after Mitrovic’s second goal, Brazilian striker Malcom sealed the victory for the Blue Waves, no thanks to a costly error by Al-Nassr goalkeeper.
Cristiano Ronaldo refuses silver medal, blasts teammates for humiliating defeat
It was jubilation for players and fans of the Blue Waves at one end but a nightmare result for Cristiano. After Al-Nassr went down easily to a 4-1 loss, viral footage shared in this post, showed Cristiano Ronaldo blaming his teammates for the loss. In the footage, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner could be seen gesturing furiously at his teammates for sleeping and allowing Al-Hilal to overturn the game.
And that was not all, after the match, he furiously walking off the field, refusing to collect his silver medal awarded to his teammates.
It was one of the players’ many disheartening moments in his Saudi football career and the second time he has lost a cup final to Al-Hilal. The first was the 2024 Kings Cup loss to the same opponent.
However, away from the heartbreak, Cristiano Ronaldo will hope to recover and put up another brilliant performance as Al-Nassr hopes to challenge for the league title again this season.
Al-Nassr will begin their latest Saudi Pro League campaign on Thursday when they host Al-Raed. Meanwhile, Ronaldo is entering the last lap of his contract with Al-Nassr. There has been no clues to his next move after the Saudi career but it is in unlikely he will call time on his career.
