SUMMARY
- Al-Nassr defeated Al-Tai 5-1 at home.
- Cristiano Ronaldo scored his second hat trick of the Saudi Pro League season.
Cristiano Ronaldo is still going strong at the age of 39. The man is nearing his forties but has shown from time to time that his goal-scoring abilities are still fresh.
Many pundits had predicted that CR7 might struggle to create an impact in the Saudi Premier League. But the exact opposite has happened. With 26 goals in his first 23 games, Cristiano Ronaldo is the top scorer in the 23-24 Saudi Pro League.
🚨 Cristiano Ronaldo: “Saudi League is not worst than Ligue1”.
“Saudi Pro League is more competitive than Ligue1, I can say that after one year spent there”.
🇫🇷 “We are better than French league already now”. pic.twitter.com/LUWdz1T2V5
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) January 19, 2024
Even after getting slandered, Cristiano has been a global advocate for the Middle Eastern League. CR7’s influence has also allowed the SPL to attract some of the biggest names in the soccer world.
He has applauded the league for being very competitive and hopes that the SPL will soon become one of the most exciting soccer leagues in the world. The Saudi fans have been loving this side of the Portuguese captain, who has also been taken aback by some of Cristiano Ronaldo’s incredible performances.
Cristiano Ronaldo looks ecstatic after scoring a hat trick against Al-Tai FC
One such performance came on the SPL’s matchday 25 when Al-Nassr hoisted Al-Tai FC at home. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a fabulous hat trick that helped his team win 5-1 and grab a full three points. Midfielders Otavio and Abdulrahman Ghareeb were the other two players from Al-Nassr who scored in the match. CR7 looked pretty thrilled to score his second hat trick in the SPL 23/24 season.
He said in a post-match interview, “I feel happy, of course. The team has won, which is the most important thing. I scored three goals, I did not score a hat trick for a long time.”
Cristiano Ronaldo was particularly impressed by his performance, considering that the Portuguese had little time to recover from the international break. The former Real Madrid player had gone on national duty to play in a friendly against Slovenia after missing out on the game against Sweden.
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Cristiano Ronaldo’s full interview.
— CristianoXtra (@CristianoXtra_) March 31, 2024
It is very difficult for a player to make the switch from national team to club soccer after loads of travel and fatigue. However, Cristiano Ronaldo found himself lucky to score a hat trick as his team was aided by a red card to the opposition.
He said, “But fortunately we had luck in the game because we have played against a one-man-down team, which is easier sometimes, we scored five goals, which is never easy. I think we played well, and we deserve (Victory).”
The Portuguese displayed terrific positional awareness in the game versus Al-Tai. Cristiano has over the years mastered the art of sensing a good opportunity to score a goal and is therefore always in the right place at the right time.
Cristiano Ronaldo dedicating his hat-trick to Georgina ❤️ pic.twitter.com/q9DU7bx894
— TCR. (@TeamCRonaldo) March 31, 2024
And this is exactly what happened against Al-Tai. His first goal was a pure predatory finish where CR7 made a sudden darting run toward the corner flag to score a first-time volley while being imbalanced. The next two goals too demonstrated the Portuguese’s game awareness, where he slotted home two composed finishes.
Al-Nassr was also helped by the fact that the opposition’s only goalscorer on the night, Virgil Misidjan, was sent off after just 36 minutes on the clock. With the three points, Al-Nassr’s points tally rises to 59 from 25 games.
Cristiano Ronaldo talked about his club’s title ambitions for the season as well. He said, “I am very happy. We are still on the fight. So, the league will be difficult, but we will continue.”
Al-Hilal have set a new world record by winning 28 consecutive games 🤯 👏 pic.twitter.com/zmd5bR4XPR
— GOAL (@goal) March 13, 2024
However, it seems that Al-Nassr’s title hopes are more or less over by now. The team is 12 points behind league leaders Al-Hilal, who are still unbeaten in the league.
Cristiano Ronaldo and co. are not giving up on the league just yet, but they are up against the dominance of Al-Hilal. It would be interesting to see how the Saudi Pro League unfolds in the coming days.