On Cristiano Ronaldo’s debut for Al Nassr, fans got excited as the former Manchester United striker was in top form at Riyadh’s King Saud University Stadium. The Portuguese captain failed to score a goal. But he left a mark on his debut. This saw Talisca score in the first half as Al Nassr sealed a 1-0 win over Ettifaq.
The result helped Al Nassr rise to the top of the table, a point ahead of second-placed Al Hilal. Ronaldo first made his debut in Saudi Arabia on Thursday last week. When PSG faced The Saudi All-Star XI Team consisting of players from Al Hilal and Al Nassr.
PSG won the game 5-4 but Ronaldo scored a brace for his team in the first half. Meanwhile, Lionel Messi also scored an early goal for his team. The duo exchanged hugs and smiles in what is likely to be their last game against each other. But now it looks like Messi could be following in Ronaldo’s footsteps with Saudi Arabian Football Federation (SAFF) general secretary Ibrahim Alkassim and a possible Argentinian captain waiting for a transfer.
The attacker has not yet signed
Speaking to Marca, Alkassim said: “At the moment we don’t know anything about the possible arrival of Lionel Messi. Although I won’t hide it.” A Saudi FA, we would like to have him in the domestic league one day.”
“The idea of the federation is always to improve our football and of course, we would like to see Cristiano and Messi back in the same league. But the truth is that we don’t know anything now,” he added. Messi’s contract expires in the summer and when he leaves, his goal is to win the UEFA Champions League with the Ligue 1 side.
He also led Argentina to a World Cup victory in Qatar last year, something Ronaldo couldn’t do.
Portugal was eliminated in the quarter-finals, with Ronaldo coming on as a substitute in the last two games.
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