Al Nassr manager blames Criano Ronaldo’s miss as one of the reasons for Super Cup elimination

Criano Ronaldo has not had the desired impact that people would have hoped when he signed with Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr last month with the Portuguese superstar drawing a blank in his second straight game, this time in a Saudi Super Cup match against Al Ittihad. As a result, Al Nassr were knocked out after a 3-1 drubbing and Ronaldo’s wait for silverware continued.
The 37-year-old Portugal international, five-times Ballon D’Or winner, had a couple of chances to score but was well shackled the Al Ittihad defence for most of the match. However, before the second goal of Al Ittihad went in Ronaldo had a glorious chance to draw Al Nassr level in the tie when he directed a header which was saved the opposition goalkeeper.
After the match, Al Nassr manager Rudi Garcia put some blame on that gilt edged chance Ronaldo as one of the reasons for losing the match. “One of the things that changed the course of the match was Criano Ronaldo’s missed opportunity in the first half,” he said.
“I congratulate Al-Ittihad. They presented a much better first half than us, and we played a good second half, but unfortunately we were not able to adjust the result,” he added.
To add to Ronaldo’s misery, a video of Al-Ittihad fans surfaced on the internet in which they can be heard chanting Ronaldo’s long-time rival Lionel Messi’s name as the five-time Ballon d’Or winner missed a chance to win first trophy in Saudi Arabia.
They chanted ‘Messi, Messi, Messi…’ as Ronaldo was walking back to the team dressing room.
In the match, Anderson Talisca’s goal for Al Nassr in the 67th minute was not enough to turn around the deficit from two first-half goals for Al Ittihad from Romarinho and Abderrazak Hamdallah. Muhannad Al-Shanqeeti added the third three minutes into stoppage time.