Criano Ronaldo fails to score in Al-Nassr’s goalless draw against Al-Shabab | Football News
Criano Ronaldo failed to make an impact in Al Nassr’s goalless draw against Al-Shabab on Friday. Criano Ronaldo started on the bench. He was brought on with 30 minutes to spare but couldn’t make the difference.
The decision to leave out the 38-year-old from the starting lineup raised a few eyebrows as the former Manchester United started both against Paris Saint Germain and Inter Milan in recent friendlies.
Al-Nassr manager Luis Castro decided to introduce Ronaldo to change the flow of the game in the 62nd minute as the game was 0-0 till that point.
The match ended in a goalless draw ⚽️#AlHilal #AlHilal_AlAhliTripoli pic.twitter.com/q0pkYsHHLW
— AlHilal Saudi Club (@Alhilal_EN) July 27, 2023
Though Ronaldo managed himself in a good position to open the scoring he was deemed off-side and the entire attack phase broke down.
The Saudi club will play Tunisian side Monastir on Monday before finishing off the group with a game against Egyptian side Zamalek on Thursday.
Ronaldo’s teammate at Manchester United full-back Alex Telles has left Manchester United to join Saudi Pro League side Al-Nassr on a contract until 2025.
Financial details were not disclosed although media reports suggested United would receive around 6 million pounds ($7.71 million) for the deal.
Al-Nassr, who finished second in the league last season, were banned FIFA earlier this month from regering new players due to outstanding debts.
According to reports, the outstanding debts were related to the transfer of Nigerian attacker Ahmed Musa, who moved to Al-Nassr from English side Leicester City in 2018.
In a ruling in October 2021, FIFA said Al-Nassr still had to pay a sum of 460,000 euros ($513,544) to Leicester for the signing of Musa, who played 62 games for the Saudi Arabian club in all competitions, scoring 14 goals, before leaving in 2020.
