Cristiano Ronaldo scored and missed second-half penalties on his return after three video games out as Al-Nassr beat midtable Al-Khaleej of their ultimate residence sport of the Saudi Professional League season.
5-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo, who had not featured in his facet’s earlier three matches, despatched a low spot kick huge 25 minutes from time as Al-Nassr confronted the prospect of going a fourth residence sport in all competitions with out victory.
Fellow forwards Sadio Mane and Jhon Duran got here to the rescue within the seventy fifth minute when the Colombia worldwide headed within the Senegal celebrity’s cross.
Ronaldo atoned for his aberration seven minutes into added time, changing for his twenty fourth league objective of the season and first in three appearances.
Al Nassr’s frontline ship in @AlNassrFC_EN‘s ultimate residence sport of the 2024/25 season 🔥#RoshnSaudiLeague pic.twitter.com/PymVHGQQkB
— Roshn Saudi League (@SPL_EN) May 21, 2025
Al Nassr vs Al Khaleej
Al-Nassr have had little to play for through the closing stretch of their marketing campaign, with champions Al-Ittihad lengthy past their attain and their AFC Champions League marketing campaign ending courtesy of a 3-2 residence loss in opposition to J League strugglers Kawasaki within the semi-finals on April 30.
Ronaldo was rested earlier than the sport in opposition to Kawasaki however didn’t instantly contribute to a objective throughout that match or in Al-Nassr’s subsequent 3-2 residence defeat in opposition to Al-Ittihad.
Ronaldo missed Al-Nassr’s 9-0 win at Al-Akhdoud on Might 12 due to a “lack of readiness”, Al-Riyadh reported at the time, and he proceeded to overlook their 1-1 draw at residence to Al-Taawoun 4 days later.
Former Manchester Metropolis common Aymeric Laporte, who joined Al-Nassr from the Cityzens for £23.6 million in August 2023 however has now been overlooked of their final 4 matches, can also be stated to have been coaching individually due to “tensions” with supervisor Stefano Pioli whereas contemplating a number of presents from golf equipment together with Marseille, who sealed Champions League qualification and no less than a top-three place in France on Saturday.
Fourth-placed Al-Nassr’s ultimate sport of the season is away to relegation-threatened Al-Fateh on Might 26 (19:00).
Cristiano Ronaldo damage: ‘No drawback’
Portugal head coach Roberto Martínez named the 40-year-old in his 27-man squad on Tuesday for the Nations League semi-final conflict in opposition to Germany in Munich on June 4 (20:00).
Ronaldo is out of contract at Al-Nassr on the finish of the season, resulting in rumours of his potential departure – however Martinez shut down any hypothesis about his most high-profile participant’s bodily situation.
“Concerning Cristiano’s health, he’s obtainable to play,” Martinez stated through the squad announcement. “There’s no drawback.”
Portugal’s all-time main scorer has remained a menace in entrance of objective this time period, netting 33 objectives in 39 matches throughout all competitions for Al-Nassr.
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Saudi Professional League golden boot 24/25
The winner of the golden boot final season, Ronaldo’s whole places him three forward of Al-Ittihad’s Karim Benzema, Al-Ahli’s Ivan Toney and Al-Shabab’s Abderrazak Hamdallah.
Julian Quinones, of Al-Qadsiah, is on 20 objectives, whereas Al-Hilal’s Aleksandar Mitrovic has 18 and Quinones team-mate Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is tied on 17 with Mitrovic strike associate Marcos Leonardo.
Ronaldo’s earlier objective got here throughout a 4-1 win away to Japanese facet Yokohama within the AFC Champions League on April 26.
