Cristiano Ronaldo was seen limping off the pitch at the end of Al-Nassr’s disappointing 3-1 defeat against Al-Ittihad in the Super Cup semi-final on Thursday night.
Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to be suffering from an ankle injury as the second game of Al-Nassr’s career ended in disappointment on Thursday night.
Weeks after completing his lucrative move to the Middle East, Ronaldo, 37, finally made his long-awaited Saudi Pro League debut last week in a 1-0 win over Ettifaq. However, there was no repeat for Ronaldo and his new team in their Super Cup semi-final showdown against Al-Ittihad.
Al-Nassr lost 3-1 against their domestic rivals, who were two goals up at half-time. Just as he did against Ettifaq, Anderson Talisca scored for Al-Nassr but any hopes of a last-minute comeback were dashed after Al-Ittihad bagged a third in added time.
On a personal level, it was another disappointing night for Ronaldo, who once again turned down the chance to officially open his Al-Nassr account.
And things went from bad to worse for the five-time Ballon d’Or winner after he was seen limping off the pitch after the game. Ronaldo was left writhing on the grass in pain following a tackle from second-half substitute Hamdan Al-Shamrani and Al-Nassr will be sweating from the damage done to their new talisman.
Far from Ronaldo’s injury scare, Al–Nassr boss Rudi Garcia was left bemoaning his side’s inability to capitalize on their chances in the first half – and he wasn’t afraid to criticize his new star signing for losing the lead. chance, fine.
“One of the things that changed the game was Cristiano missed in the first half,” said Garcia after the game.
“I congratulate Al-Ittihad. They put in a much better first half than us, and we played a good second half, but unfortunately we couldn’t match the result. It’s true that we regret losing the Super Cup, but we are still first in league.”
Garcia’s blunt decision ended a sad night for Ronaldo, who was jeered by Al-Ittihad fans who chanted the name of his iconic rival Lionel Messi as he left the pitch.
Al-Ittihad striker Abderrazak Hamdallah also insulted Ronaldo by imitating one of Messi’s most iconic goal celebrations after scoring in the first half.
The Morocco international, who made five appearances for Atlas Lions during their historic run to the World Cup semi-finals, lifted his shirt after scoring – just as Messi did when he bagged the winner in El Clasico in LaLiga back in 2017.
Ronaldo looked less than impressed as the cameras quickly panned his way, with the veteran looking visibly frustrated.