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Cristiano Ronaldo is keen to enjoy Champions League success with Saudi Arabian giants Al-Nassr. The legendary Portuguese forward notably helped them win the Arab Club Champions Cup in 2023, but he has since been unable to lead them to more trophies.
Al-Hilal have held a monopoly of Saudi's domestic football, with the giants winning the league undefeated last season. However, Ronaldo's focus is on the AFC Champions League, which he termed "special". His comments came after Al-Nassr beat Al Rayyan 2-1 in their second match of the competition on Monday, September 30, at Al-Awwal Park.
Speaking to the club's official media, Ronaldo said (via GOAL):
“We had a good game. It’s a Champions League game, so it’s always special. I think the team played very well. We created so many opportunities. We played well. We didn’t concede too many opportunities and we deserved to win.”
Cristiano Ronaldo has started the season in fine form, scoring seven goals and providing two assists in just eight appearances. In the AFC Champions League, he has played one game, scoring in the 76th minute against Al Rayyan.
His total tally for Al-Nassr comes to an impressive 65 goals and 17 assists in 72 games across all competitions. It has been nearly two years since his move to Saudi Arabia in January 2023, and he will be looking to reach the 100-goal mark in due course.
Cristiano Ronaldo no longer focusing on breaking personal records
Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed that he is no longer interested or focused on breaking records, which he notably spent the vast majority of his career doing. The legendary Portuguese striker has created numerous records, including becoming the first player to score 900 career goals recently.
However, this is no longer his focus, as the 39-year-old explained to the press after the 2-1 win over Al Rayyan (via talkSPORT):
“It is not important anymore whether I am the best or not, I no longer care about that. It is good for a player to score goals, but for me it is better for the team to win. I am used to breaking records and I no longer look for them. The most important thing for me now is to enjoy and help Al Nassr and my teammates to win.”
With five games played in the Saudi Pro League so far this season, Al-Nassr have racked up 11 points. This puts them in fourth place, four points behind Al-Hilal, who are sitting in first with five wins from as many games.
Cristiano Ronaldo will hope he can lead Nassr to potentially usurp the pole position from Hilal in the coming months.
