Cristiano Ronaldo continues to dazzle in Saudi Arabia. Despite his advancing age, the Portuguese with five Ballon d’Or awards continues to deliver outstanding performances and consistently leads Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League. However, he is now being overshadowed by two African stars.
The Saudi Pro League did not attract much attention before Cristiano Ronaldo’s arrival. The Portuguese joined Al Nassr after the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and the Saudi championship moved into a new dimension. Several other stars such as Karim Benzema, the 2022 Ballon d’Or winner, Neymar, Sadio Mane, Mahrez, Firmino, and N’Golo Kante have also joined the holy country with quite substantial salaries.
However, despite the presence of stars from all over, Cristiano Ronaldo continues to show his dominance. He has already scored 15 goals and provided 7 assists in just 14 appearances this season in the Saudi Pro League. This means that at 38 years old, he is the league’s top scorer and shows no signs of slowing down. Even though Al Nassr lost the clash against Al Hilal due to a hat-trick from Mitrovic, Ronaldo keeps his head high and aims to win more titles for Al Nassr after the Arab Club Champions League. However, for once, Cristiano Ronaldo finds himself trailing behind two African football stars in Saudi Arabia.
Bernard Mensah and Nkoudou Outclass Cristiano Ronaldo
The Saudi Professional League (SPL) has announced its two candidates for the Player of the Month award for November in the Saudi league. This means that, this time, Cristiano Ronaldo’s name is not among the potential winners.
Ghanaian Bernard Mensah, who shines at Al-Tai, and Cameroonian international Georges Nkoudou, of Damac, will battle it out for the November Player of the Month trophy in the Saudi Pro League. The Indomitable Lion impressed with Damac by scoring five goals and providing two assists in November. This is significantly better than Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored only four goals and made one assist in the same period.
These figures are slightly lower than those of the two Africans, who have been nominated for the award of the month ahead of all the stars in the championship. In any case, this season, Cristiano Ronaldo has already scored 24 goals and provided nine assists in all competitions under the Al Nassr jersey, in 26 games. He is already the highest scorer in the Saudi league and will likely continue to score, despite his age.
Ronaldo Aims for Two Trophies with Al Nassr This Season
Despite a timid start to the season after two consecutive defeats and a recent humbling at the hands of Al Hilal, Al Nassr is having an impressive season. Led by the great Cristiano Ronaldo (38 years), the yellow and blue are seen as serious contenders for the title.
In his first season, Cristiano Ronaldo missed out on the Saudi league and cup titles in favor of Al Ittihad de Jeddah. However, with his goals, he is helping Al Nassr win trophies this season.
He has already started well by winning the Arab Club Champions Cup at the start of the season. However, his two main objectives are to win the Saudi Pro League and the AFC Champions League, where Al Nassr has already qualified for the second round. In any case, this is his season, and he has just helped Portugal qualify for the Euro. If he manages to replicate his 2016 feat with Portugal, he can indeed believe in a 6th Ballon d’Or. Clearly, he can’t do better than Lionel Messi, the 8-time Ballon d’Or winner.
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