Cristiano Ronaldo lifted the Saudi Pro League trophy for Al-Nassr after scoring twice in a 4-1 win over Damac on the final day of the season. The title ended a wait for a major domestic championship and marked Al-Nassr’s first league title since 2019. Ronaldo had recently reached his 100th Saudi Pro League goal and had scored 129 times for the club across all competitions, but the league title was the key prize. His arrival in December 2022 helped drive a wave of high-profile signings across the league’s top clubs. The season featured a wider title race before narrowing to Al-Nassr and Al-Hilal, culminating in a decisive showdown.
"The wait finally ended on Thursday as Ronaldo scored twice in Al-Nassr's 4-1 victory over Damac on the final day of the season to see off bitter rivals Al-Hilal and win their first championship title since 2019. Ronaldo, who recently scored his 100th goal in the Saudi Pro League, has scored 129 times for the club across all competitions - but this was the title he was signed to win."
"Al-Nassr signed the megastar in December 2022 - after he left Manchester United - to shock the world and thrust the country on to the global sporting stage. But there has also been some surprise that more than three years later, the 41-year-old had not won a major domestic title. The wait finally ended on Thursday as Ronaldo scored twice..."
"His arrival set the scene for an influx of big-name stars such as Karim Benzema, N'Golo Kante, Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane, Neymar and others to sign for the so-called 'Big Four' clubs: Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr in Riyadh, and Jeddah giants Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad. In the summer of 2023, that quartet was taken over by the country's Public Investment Fund (PIF), which also owns Newcastle United..."
"For a while, there were four teams in the title race with Al-Ahli, fuelled by the goals of Ivan Toney, and Al-Qadsiah, powered by Saudi Arabian oil giants Aramco - and with head coach Brendan Rodgers looking to turn the Big Four into five - slipping away in the final stages. It left Nassr and Hilal to fight it out, and it always looked likely to rest on their titanic showdown on 12 May..."
Read at www.bbc.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]