"Need hattrick please", "YouTuber is ready to play football" - Fans react as Cristiano Ronaldo starts for Al-Nassr in SPL opening clash

Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr start their Saudi Pro League 2024-25 campaign today (August 22) with a clash against Al-Raed at the Al-Awwal Stadium.

The Knights of Najd will look to avoid a potential banana skin and start their league campaign on a winning note.

Fans were ecstatic when the official lineup was revealed and Cristiano Ronaldo was included in the starting 11. They voiced their opinions about the match on social media platforms like X (formerly Twitter). Some of the popular reactions are as follows:

"Need Hattrick pls," commented one fan on X.

"The YouTuber is ready to play football," quipped another.

"CR7 is ready," another fan commented on X.

One Al-Nassr fan opined that the club needed new players to be able to compete with Saudi giants like Al-Hilal. They commented:

"Even if the result of this game is positive it doesn't change anything we want new players we don't care about thrashing Al read we want to be able to compete with Al Hilal sport and money wise."

"let's go! can't wait to see how he performs," gushed another fan on X.

"Ronaldo's remarkable resonance reverberates," another netizen opined.

Cristiano Ronaldo will spearhead the Al-Nassr attack along with Sadio Mane, Talisca, and Otavio. The midfield will be managed by Marcelo Brozovic and Abdullah Al-Khaibari.

Finally, the Canary Yellow outfit's backline will consist of Aymeric Laporte, Alex Telles, Sultan Al-Ghannam, and Ali Lajami. Bento will be the man in between the sticks.

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Cristiano Ronaldo's goal went in vain as Al-Nassr lost the Saudi Super Cup final to Al-Hilal

Al-Nassr faced Al-Hilal in the Saudi Super Cup 2024 final on August 17 at the Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Stadium. The Canary Yellow side took the lead in the 44th minute of the game courtesy of Cristiano Ronaldo's strike.

Just before the end of the first half, substitute Abdulrahman Ghareeb dribbled his way into the Al-Hilal penalty box and produced a cross for Cristiano Ronaldo. The Portuguese didn't make a mistake and directed the ball into the Al-Hilal goal.

However, his efforts were in vain as Al-Hilal scored four goals within 17 minutes to take the game away from the Knights of Najd. The onslaught was started by Sergej Milinković-Savić in the 55th minute to level the score for the Blue outfit.

It was followed by Aleksandar Mitrović scoring two goals in the 63rd and 69th minutes, respectively. Finally, Malcom capitalized on an unfortunate error by goalkeeper Bento and made it 4-1 in the 72nd minute.

Al-Nassr will look to even the books by taking the Saudi Pro League title away from defending champions Al-Hilal in the 2024-25 season.