Cristiano Ronaldo has brought a football revolution to Saudi Arabia since his arrival at Al-Nassr. The five-time Ballon d’Or winner brought big attention to the Saudi Pro League as several other star footballers also followed his footsteps. The Portuguese superstar has also been performing well on the field with his incredible goal-scoring abilities. However, one thing continues to bother him – Lionel Messi – his arch-nemesis for over a decade in European football.
The two football greats play in different continents now but the Messi aura continues to haunt Ronaldo. The opposition fans have often seen taunting the Al-Nassr’s star with ‘Messi-Messi’ chants which frustrated the 39-year-old on multiple occasions. It did happen once again when Ronaldo was in action against Al-Ahli Saudi in the SPL match. The Al Nassr skipper scored a penalty to help his team register a 1-0 win but during the match, the home fans did taunt him with Messi chants when he showed his disagreement with one of the referee’s decisions.
Recently, the five-time Ballon d’Or also served a one-match ban for his offensive gesture at opposition fans who taunted him with Messi chants. During the Al-Nassr’s 3-2 win, the Al-Shabab fans chanted Messi’s name which frustrated Ronaldo as he made an offensive gesture towards them.
However, in the Al-Ahli clash, Ronaldo converted a penalty in the 68th minute as he dispatched the ball to the bottom left corner which helped his team gain three points. However, Al-Nassr remained 9 points behind table leaders Al-Hilal who also have one extra game in hand.
Meanwhile, Al-Nassr are already eliminated from the Asian Champions League quarterfinals. The Ronaldo-le responded to a 1-0 first-leg defeat against Al-Ain of the United Arab Emirates by winning the return match 4-3 in Riyadh. But it lost the penalty shootout 3-1. Ronaldo was the only home player to score in the shootout.
The 39-year-old Ronaldo did miss several chances in regulation, and shook his head in disbelief in the second half when he missed the target from just two meters out with Al-Ain goalkeeper Khalid Eisa on the ground. However, he converted a late penalty in extra time to take the game to penalties where his team suffered a defeat.
