For a social media post described around the world as “cryptic”, it doesn’t seem all that hard to decipher. Minutes after Al-Nassr’s last game of a disappointing season ended in defeat on Monday, Cristiano Ronaldo – who had previously said that he was happy to finish his career in Saudi Arabia –posted on social media. “This chapter is over. The story? Still being written. Grateful to all.”
The biggest star in theSaudi Pro League(SPL) looks to be on his way out of Riyadh after two and a half years of personal milestones but no major trophy with Al-Nassr. With the Yellows no closer to a first title since 2019 than when he joined in December 2022 and no place in Asia’s Champions League next season, the 40-year-old may not, as the club had long expected, extend his contract – which ends on 30 June – for another year.
The season was similar to the one before for captain and club but not quite as good.Al-Nassrfinished third, one place lower and 12 points fewer than last season. Ronaldo finished as top scorer with 25, 10 fewer than his record haul of 35 from the previous campaign. There were some spectacular strikes, some trademark headers and eight penalties. All in all, 99 goals in 111 games for Al-Nassr in all competitions is impressive.
The club would have been even worse off had they not been handed three extra points on Monday morning. Just hours before the final round of games kicked off,Al-Nassr won their appealto overturn a 2-1 loss at lowly Al-Orobah in February. The Al-Orobah goalkeeper Rafi al-Ruwaili was, the claim went, ineligible as he was not a full-time professional (in contravention of the league’s rules) and instead worked for the government. That decision meant that, going into the final game, there was still a chance of Al-Nassr finishing second and taking the last Champions League spot from Al-Hilal, whose midfielder Rúben Neves said it was all a disgrace.
Al-Nassr lost anyway but, thanks to their successful appeal, did manage to squeeze into the Champions League Two, Asia’s second-tier tournament. It could be that Ronaldo did not fancy playing in what is a low-key affair, though his presence would have changed that to some extent.
It is not the only tournament that would like a bit of the stardust provided by the most followed person on Instagram. There is talk of the five-time Ballon d’Or winner being loaned to one of the 32 teams in the FifaClub World Cupthat kicks off on 14 June. The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, said as much last week to the online streamer IShowSpeed. “There are discussions with some clubs, so if any club is watching and is interested in hiring Ronaldo for the Club World Cup … who knows, who knows?”
Those comments understandably went down badly with Ronaldo’s current employers. Their Riyadh rivalsAl-Hilalare one of the reported interested parties. For Al-Nassr fans the idea of their biggest star in the shirt of their biggest rivals may be unbearable but the two clubs have, after all, the same Public Investment Fund (PIF) owner and, after losing Neymar, Al-Hilal want a big star for the tournament.
Off the pitch there are none bigger but on it Ronaldo was unable to lift a misfiring team to the next level. Al-Nassr produced in moments but struggled for fluency and consistency. It was not a surprise when Luis Castro was fired early in the season and the former Serie A winner Stefano Pioli came in and had similar issues. On Monday, Sadio Mané admitted that it had been a poor season but also put some of the responsibility on the fans for not coming out in big numbers consistently.
The former Liverpool man may have been thinking of Al-Ittihad’s support, which averaged almost 40,000, more than double Al-Nassr’s. Such energy may have helped the Jeddah team win a 10th title. Laurent Blanc arrived to bring some calm after last season when the Tigers had fired Nuno Espírito Santo and then brought in Marcelo Gallardo from River Plate for a short-lived spell.
Karim Benzema had fewer injury problems this time around, scoring 21 with none coming from the penalty spot. Moussa Diaby excelled in his first season after arriving from Aston Villa and ended sharing top spot in the assist charts with Salem al-Dawsari of Al-Hilal. Steven Bergwijn impressed as did N’Golo Kanté in midfield.
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Last year Al-Hilal stormed to the title on the back of aworld record 34-game winning streakbut were less impressive this time round, finishing second and also crashing out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage. By that time, the coach, Jorge Jesus, had seemed to lose control of his players and the Portuguese left before the end of the season. Al-Ahli, led by Riyad Mahrez and the increasingly prolific Ivan Toney – who ended on 23 goals, second only to Ronaldo andenough for an England recall– were satisfied with a first Asian title.
And that is the PIF-owned Big Four but perhaps there are more now. Al-Qadsiah, backed by the oil giant Aramco and led by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, finished fourth (and would have ended a place higher without Nassr’s late appeal) and look to be here to stay, Next season,the newly promoted Neom SCwill be there too.
The end of season headlines, however, belong to Ronaldo. Since he arrived in Saudi Arabia, it has been that way, which was always part of the plan. Now the focus is on what happens next.