The big transfer coup of the Saudis still does not want to have any real effect. The relationship between Cristiano Ronaldo and his new club Al Nassr has not been a success story so far. After all, the football superstar finally scored his first goal in his third competitive game.
The 37-year-old Portuguese converted a penalty kick in the second minute of injury time against Al-Fateh on Friday to make it 2-2 and secured a point for the title contenders. “I’m happy to have scored my first goal in the Saudi league. And about the great performance of the entire team, which managed to achieve an important draw in a very difficult game,” Ronaldo wrote somewhat pathetically on Instagram.
Before that, however, things were by no means smooth for Ronaldo. A goal by the striker in the 24th minute was disallowed for offside, in the 35th minute he missed a great chance before hitting the crossbar with a left-footed shot from eleven meters just before the break.
But then Ronaldo scored a penalty kick in added time. Spicy: Talisca, who was the appropriate penalty taker, actually grabbed the ball, but then gave it to the new captain. Talisca had scored the first goal for Al-Nassr. Ronaldo picked up a yellow card just before the end of the game after colliding with opponent Al-Daheem.
Ronaldo switched to Al-Nassr in the winter, where he signed a contract for two and a half years. According to media reports, including advertising revenue, he should get the equivalent of around 200 million euros per season. The commitment was overshadowed by problems from the start.
First he had to serve a ban from the English Premier League. His announced premiere for the new club was canceled even though the club had specifically given up Uzbek international Jaloliddin Mascharipov so as not to exceed the maximum limit for foreigners.
And the second attempt to start also fell into the water. The game against Al Ta’ee had to be postponed due to heavy rain. In the desert of all places. After all, he has now played three times, but is still out of the game with zero goals. Everyone involved had imagined it very differently.