#Cristiano Ronaldo

#Cristiano Ronaldo

They did so without star man Cristiano Ronaldo and the Portugal striker is again expected to be rested by coach Jorge Jesus. Ronaldo scored twice as Al-Nassr made it seven wins from seven to start the new Pro League season at the weekend, albeit it came in controversial fashion with the home team awarded a penalty 14 minutes into stoppage time of the clash with Al-Fayha.

Cristiano Ronaldo's son, Cristiano Ronaldo Júnior, scored his first goal for Portugal's under-16 side in a 3-0 victory over Wales at the weekend. He will line up for Portugal U16s against their England counterparts on Tuesday. At the weekend against Wales, in just his second appearance for Portugal's U16 side, the Al Nassr academy forward started and struck the opener in the 42nd minute with a right-footed finish.

Joao Felix scored his second Saudi Pro League hat-trick of the season as Al-Nassr thrashed Al-Fateh 5-1 at Al-Awwal Park. The Portugal international's opener was cancelled out by Sofiane Bendebka early in the second half, but Cristiano Ronaldo sparked a run of four goals in 20 minutes as Al-Nassr extended their lead at the top of the league to four points.

Portugal, the reigning Nations League champions, are unbeaten in five matches and have started qualifying in ruthless fashion, thrashing Armenia 5-0 before beating Hungary 3-2 in early September. Meanwhile, Ireland, under the management of Heimir Hallgrimsson, are winless in four and have so far picked up just one point in Group F following a 2-2 draw with Hungary and 2-1 defeat to Armenia.

It used to be pretty easy to predict who would win the Ballon d'Or. You could just grab a coin, label heads as " Lionel Messi" and tails as " Cristiano Ronaldo," and flip your coin. Ideally it would be a slightly weighted coin in favor of the Messi side, unless it was one of the many years when Real Madrid won the Champions League -- in which case you'd want to reweight or relabel the sides of the coin -- but you get my point.

The Oxford-born head coach has recently been appointed Al Kholood's head coach, the first Saudi club 100 per cent owned by foreign investors, The Harburg Group, fronted by American businessman Ben Harburg. Buckingham replaces outgoing boss Noureddine Zekri, with Cosmin Contra having spent 20 days as an interim boss in between. The new boss is excited for the challenge ahead, coming up against coaches like Simone Inzaghi, and players like Cristiano Ronaldo who Buckingham is actually two days younger than.

The U.S. Soccer Federation is finalizing details for the United States to play Portugal in a friendly in March, with Atlanta's Mercedes-Benz Stadium the likely venue, multiple sources with knowledge of the discussions told ESPN. The match, if held, would see Portugal captain Cristiano Ronaldo play in the U.S. for the first time since 2014 when he was here as part of Real Madrid's tour of the U.S.