Al-Nassr: “He has brought nothing,” a club legend calls for CR7’s departure

The heavy defeat of Al-Nassr against Al-Ain (4-0) on Tuesday in the AFC Champions League has sparked strong reactions in Saudi Arabia. Fahad Al-Harifi, a former iconic player of the Riyadh club, specifically targeted Cristiano Ronaldo after the disappointing performance of the “Knights of Najd.” Dominated for most of the match, Al-Nassr was quickly overwhelmed by a particularly effective Al-Ain team. Soufiane Rahimi opened the scoring after a defensive error, before adding another goal in the second half. Georgios Giakoumakis then joined in the offensive display of the local team.

Cristiano Ronaldo, for his part, has not managed to reverse the trend. The Portuguese captain attempted five shots, with only one on target. In the aftermath of this debacle, Fahad Al-Harifi delivered a particularly harsh critique of the former Real Madrid player. Invited to the show Our League is Different, he stated that Ronaldo no longer provides a real added value to Al-Nassr, both on and off the field. “ Ronaldo has brought nothing to Al-Nassr. His presence is not important for the club, and he should be expelled,” he declared, according to Kooora.

The former midfielder also questioned the commercial impact of the Portuguese player: “Ronaldo has not brought major titles to Al-Nassr, and even from a marketing perspective, the club has not benefited from it.” Al-Harifi finally urged the leaders to place the institution’s interests above those of a player. He specifically referred to the case of Karim Benzema, who recently parted ways with Al-Hilal, to support his position. Despite these criticisms, Ronaldo’s statistics since his arrival at Al-Nassr in January 2023 remain significant. The Portuguese player has a total of 126 goals and 24 assists in 149 matches across all competitions and contributed to the club’s championship in the Saudi Pro League last season.