38-year-old striker Cristiano Ronaldo set a new scoring record and assisted Al Nassr to win 3-1 against Al Ettifaq in round 18 of Pro League.
In the past few years, every goal of Ronaldo has been a record, and this time he is closer to the 900 goal milestone. In the 72nd minute, when the host was leading 2-0, striker Sadio Mane was stopped by defender Abdulrahamn Yousef and fell in the away team’s penalty area, resulting in a penalty. After a while of saying something to Mane, captain Ronaldo shot an 11-meter shot to the bottom left corner, causing goalkeeper Paulo Victor to guess the right direction and not be able to touch the ball.
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring against Al Ettifaq at King Saud University stadium, Riyadh city, Saudi Arabia, round 18 of Pro League on December 22, 2023. Photo: ANFC
Even though the goal didn’t mean much to the result, Ronaldo was still happy and ran close to the corner post, jumped high, turned around and shouted “siuuu”. Thousands of spectators at King Saud University also chanted along with the home team captain. This is Ronaldo’s 51st goal in 2023, and also the 870th goal of his career after 1,202 matches.
The Portuguese captain also raised his all-time scoring record to 49 goals, more than the person behind Lionel Messi. Ronaldo has scored more goals in his career than Ronaldo Nazario (414 goals) and Thierry Henry (417) combined. If not counting the goals for Al Nassr, Ronaldo still ranks above Messi in terms of scoring.
Captain Al Nassr also headed in a one-touch assist for Marcelo Brozovic to score to increase the score to 2-0 in the 59th minute after the away team player did not clear the ball well. Ronaldo’s header had just enough force for the Croatian midfielder to dive down and cushion the ball in a close-angle position into the net. Both goals Brozovic scored for Al Nassr were assisted by Ronaldo. The 38-year-old superstar raised his hands to celebrate when he saw the ball enter the net, then ran to share the joy with his juniors.
Ronaldo has assisted 249 goals in his career. He also leads the list of goals scored (17) and assists (9) in the Pro League this season, despite only playing 16 matches. On average per match, he scores more than 1.6 goals.
Al Nassr also overwhelmed Steven Gerrard’s team in this match, when at minute 60 the away team still did not finish. There are two midfielders Georginio Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson, but Ettifaq plays passively. They only scored in the last minutes when Al Nassr got loose. The home team’s opening goal was a superb one-touch volley by defender Alex Telles from 25 meters away, sending the ball into the top corner.
Despite scoring and assisting, Ronaldo’s finishing performance in this match was not high. He had to wait until his 10th shot of the match to score, again from a penalty. In his previous nine shots, he missed twice, hit the opponent three times, and was cleared by the goalkeeper four times.
