December 30, 2022 was historic by all standards for Arab football in general, when the Saudi club Al-Nassr announced the signing of Cristiano Ronaldo in a free transfer, to be the nucleus of a huge and great project that was later launched in the Roshen League.
One year has passed since Ronaldo signed for Al Nassr, but has the Portuguese star actually been influential, and can we be certain of the success of his experience so far?
In this report from FanZword, we review together Ronaldo's numbers one year after joining Al-Nassr.
Record number of goals
It is certain that Cristiano Ronaldo succeeded on the individual level with Al-Nasr, given the large number of goals he scored with Al-Alamy in all tournaments.
Ronaldo's first match in his new club was against Al-Ettifaq, but he did not score, but after that he exploded in goals and became the top scorer for Al-Nasr, and perhaps for the whole world.
The number of Ronaldo's goals with Al-Nasr in 2023 is 43 goals, with 33 goals in the Saudi League, 3 goals in the AFC Champions League, and a goal in the King's Cup, in addition to 6 goals in the Arab Championship.
In addition to this large number of goals with Al-Nasr, Ronaldo scored 10 goals with the Portugal national team in the Euro qualifiers, bringing his total goals in 2023 to 53 goals, making him the world’s top scorer, ahead of Kylian Mbappe and Harry Kane (52 goals) and Erling Haaland (50 goals).
Humble titles
Despite the huge influence that Ronaldo’s numbers show, in practice he was not beneficial to Al-Nassr on the collective level, as the “global” did not win any official championship throughout the year 2023.
Al-Nasr only won the Arab Champions League title, and Ronaldo was its top scorer with 6 goals and scored two goals in the final match against Al-Hilal.
But in the Saudi League season 2022-2023, Al-Nasr finished in second place behind Al-Ittihad, and was eliminated from the King’s Cup in the semi-finals at the hands of Al-Wahda.
In addition to Ronaldo's collective failure with Al-Nassr, he failed in his first test when he arrived at Al-Nassr, specifically in the Saudi Super Cup in its new look, when he also exited the competition in the semi-finals at the hands of Al-Ittihad.
What did Ronaldo do this season?
Once again, Ronaldo's individual success overshadows Al-Nasr's collective success in the 2023-2024 season.
Ronaldo is the top scorer in the Saudi League with 19 goals, but Al-Nasr is in second place, behind Al-Hilal, by a full 10 points.
Al-Nasr reached the semi-finals of the King's Cup, and is preparing to compete in the round of 16 of the AFC Champions League, as well as play the Saudi Super Cup in January.
The nucleus of the giant project
Even if Ronaldo failed to bring titles to Al-Nassr, he was certainly the nucleus of great success for the Saudi League.
Ronaldo was the first giant star to join the Roshen League, and after that came the big names, all of whom stressed that the joining of the Don was enough to convince them that something big was going on in Saudi Arabia.
Also, from a commercial standpoint, Ronaldo has been extremely beneficial to Saudi football.
Challenge 2024
In addition to the above, it can be said that Ronaldo individually expressed himself, as is usual, in an ideal way, and he also benefited Saudi football in a very huge way, but in 2023, what was missing was for him to translate his abilities into helping Al-Nassr achieve titles, and perhaps this is what... The big challenge that awaits him in 2024 is for the “global” to return to the podium again.
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