Cristiano Ronaldo left the field with joyful chants of Messi, Messi, Messi! ” rang in his ears from delighted Al-Hilal fans who had just watched their Saudi Pro League side beat Portuguese superstar Al-Nassr 3-0 in the Riyadh Derby on Friday.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner may have ended up on the losing team, Aleksandar Mitrovic scored twice after fellow Serbian Sergej Milinkovic-Savic opened Al-Hilal, but Ronaldo still remains the center of attention of Saudi football despite the taunts of opposing supporters referring to its great rival for almost two decades.
As thousands of cars headed east to downtown Riyadh to watch the league’s top two teams and their local rivals face off at the King Fahd International Stadium, the last to be played in the arena since three years, as it needs to be renovated to host matches in During the 2027 Asian Cup and the 2034 World Cup, an Al-Nassr fan leaned over and shouted: Are you here to see Cristiano?
When Ronaldo warmed up, there were cheers from several thousand away fans, many of whom wore the number 7 on their backs, and boos from the masses of home fans. But even in these hostile sections, parents showed their sons and daughters the great 38-year-old footballer.
Saudi football has not been the same since the former Real Madrid and Manchester United striker completed his transfer last December. Even fans of Al-Hilal, the most successful club in Saudi Arabia and Asia, with 18 and four championships respectively, recognize what he did to Al-Nassr, which has nine national titles.
He raised the level of the whole game of football here, Fahad Al-Qahtani, 25, a Riyadh resident, told the Associated Press. Al-Hilal will still be champions this season and we are still the biggest in Asia but Ronaldo was incredible.
In the previous 14 matches of the league season, Ronaldo had scored 15 goals to move to the top of the scoring charts and help Al-Nassr rise to second in the league behind Al-Hilal. His teammates now include former Liverpool star Sadio Mané, Inter Milan’s Marcelo Brozovic and Alex Telles, who arrived from Manchester United.
Cristiano is an example for everyone, an example that Al-Nassr is lucky to have, said Al-Nassr coach Luis Castro. He is an example of rigor, ambition and discipline. Many people want to be like Cristiano Ronaldo, but few want to work like Cristiano Ronaldo. If you want something, you have to give everything to get it.
Ronaldo tried everything on Friday. In the second half, with Al-Nassr trailing by a solitary goal, he fired a fierce volley high into the net, but it was ruled out slightly for offside. Shortly after, he rolled on the ground of Al-Hilal’s penalty area, claiming he had been elbowed. When Mitrovic scored his first goal and Al-Hilal’s second late in the match, Ronaldo insisted he had been fouled in the build-up.
Hilal has his own superstar, but a less influential one at the moment as Neymar, who signed from Paris Saint-Germain in August, was seriously injured while on international duty with Brazil in October.
On social media, Neymar posted good luck messages to his teammates, such as Mitrovic, midfielder Ruben Neves and defender Kalidou Koulibaly, all of whom arrived this summer as highly regarded players in the English Premier League. They joined several Saudi internationals in the team, such as Salem Al-Dawsari and Saleh Al-Shehri, who scored against Lionel Messi’s Argentina in Saudi Arabia’s famous 2-1 Cup win of the world 2022.
Defeat in Friday’s derby left Al-Nassr seven points behind leaders Al-Hilal after 15 rounds. Ronaldo may have his work cut out for him to help his side win title number 10 but, given his form so far this season, he could yet have the last laugh as Messi chants fade.
Ronaldo’s day was further marred by news out of the United States that he has been hit with a class-action lawsuit seeking at least $1 billion in damages for his role in promoting the tokens cryptocurrency-related non-fungibles, or NFTs, issued by the beleaguered cryptocurrency exchange Binance. .
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