© AFP
Cristiano Ronaldo will be introduced to the fans of the Saudi Al-Nassr in the capital Riyadh on Tuesday, it was announced on Monday. They will be invited around 5 pm (Belgian time) to the Mrsool Park stadium, which has a capacity of 25,000 spectators.
Martin DelvauxBron: BELGIAN
Last week, the 37-year-old Portuguese signed a contract with Al-Nassr until mid-2025, which will earn him around 200 million euros annually. It ended weeks of speculation after CR7 forced a departure from Manchester United in November, just before the start of the World Cup in Qatar. After a particularly critical interview from Ronaldo, Manchester United had the top earner’s contract terminated. The Portuguese said in the TV program Piers Morgan Uncensored, among other things, that he feels betrayed by the English club and that trainer Erik ten Hag wanted to provoke him. Ronaldo got little playing time from the new Dutch trainer in the first months of this season.
The Portuguese broke through in his own country about twenty years ago at Sporting Lisbon and moved to Manchester United in 2003. Six years and many trophies later, Ronaldo moved to Real Madrid, with which he won the Champions League four times. He is the all-time top scorer of that tournament with 140 goals. From 2018 to 2021, Ronaldo played football for Juventus, after which he returned to Manchester. This season, the world star ended up on the bench under Ten Hag, after which Ronaldo forced a departure.
At the last World Cup in Qatar, Ronaldo got stuck with Portugal in the quarterfinals. The attacker also lost his starting place in the national team during the tournament and left the field crying after the defeat against Morocco (0-1). With 118 goals for Portugal, Ronaldo is the player with the most international goals worldwide.
Notable players at Al-Nassr include Colombian goalkeeper David Ospina, Brazilian midfielders Luiz Gustavo and Anderson Talisca, and Cameroonian striker Vincent Aboubakar. The Frenchman Rudi Garcia is a trainer there. The club won nine national titles, the last of which was in 2019. In 1995 Al-Nassr was runner-up in the Asian Champions League, in 1998 it won the Cup Winners’ Cup.
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(Belgian)
