On Friday, for the third time with his new club, Al-Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo took the field in an effort to help his side recover from their most recent loss. There was high anticipation for the 37-year-old veteran’s dominance in Saudi Arabia’s league, which is far weaker than the Premier League.
There was also a considerable added strain for the match against Al-Fateh after failing to score against Al-Ettifaq and Al-Ittihad.The Portugal captainseemed to be feeling the weight of the increased attention on him as he displayed signs of dissatisfaction on the field for the first time since his transfer.
Throughout his second stint at Manchester United, Ronaldo took his frustrations with the club’s treatment of him out in the open, drawing widespread criticism for his body language. However, the superstar has seemed to have settled down somewhat since leaving Old Trafford and the spotlight of European action.
How did Cristiano Ronaldo open hisAl-Nassr checkbook?
For a long time, Ronaldo’s scoring prospects didn’t appear very promising.The five-time Ballon d’Or again failed to capitalize on a clear goalscoring opportunityearly in the game, just after having a goal disallowed for offside. Then, agoalkeeper blunder allowed Cristian Tello to put Al-Fateh up front.
As the first half progressed, the former Real Madrid star became visibly irritated, to the point where he would throw his arms in the air whenever he was passed by. It was the current Al-Nassr top goalscorer, Anderson Talisca, as usual, scored a fantastic goal to get his sideback into it, but the home teamquickly reclaimed the advantage with a spectacular long-range shot.
The score was not in favor of Cristiano Ronaldo’s club and it seemed to continue that way until the first of seven minutes of added time when the visitors were given a penalty. The 28-year-old Talisca, who is also the league’s leading scorer, snatched the ball as the official waived off complaints.
The way Ronaldo was positioned a few yards beyond the area gave the impression that he had given his Brazilian teammate responsibility for taking penalties. However, as Talisca went to lay the ball down, the Portuguese acestole it from him andtook the penalty kick, converting it into hisfirst goal for the club in a competitive match.
