Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr coach, Rudi Garcia, has been facing the heat as his side has seemingly slipped in the title race. Rudi Garcia’s tactics have come under question despite Al-Nassr winning seven of their last nine games. However, Garcia is being forced to play Russian Roulette with his job as his future at Al-Nassr massively depends on the upcoming match against Al-Hilal.
According to ESPN, Rudi Garcia‘s side will play a do-or-die match against Al-Hilal in the coming week. If Al-Nassr drops points against the reigning Saudi champions, Garcia will wave goodbye to his time at Al-Nassr. The former Lyon coach failed to inspire his side to victory in the recent league match against Al-Feiha. Currently, Al-Nassr is placed second in the Saudi Pro League table, three points behind leaders Al-Ittihad.
Contrary to these sources, MARCA has reported that Rudi Garcia has already been sacked as the head coach of Al-Nassr. Despite the high-profile signing of Cristiano Ronaldo earlier this year, Al-Nassr is in real danger of losing the title race. Moreover, Ronaldo‘s side has already been knocked out of the Saudi Super Cup by Al-Ittihad a few weeks ago.
Cristiano Ronaldo has had a poor relationship with Al-Nassr coach
MARCA reported that one of the main reasons behind Rudi Garcia’s sacking was his poor relationship with Cristiano Ronaldo. While Ronaldo has been one of the star performers on Garcia’s team, the Portuguese star did not have a cordial relationship with the French coach. During Ronaldo’s signing, Garcia had made a crude joke about how he had tried to sign Ronaldo’s arch-nemesis, Lionel Messi.
🚨 Rudi Garcia has been SACKED as head coach of Al Nassr! ❌🇸🇦
His bad relationship with the locker room is the main reason for his dismissal.
(Source: @marca) pic.twitter.com/XaEsLJQrWu
— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) April 12, 2023
In addition to this, after Al-Nassr’s Super Cup defeat against Al-Ittihad, Garcia gave Ronaldo a piece of his mind. The former Roma coach singled out Ronaldo’s poor performance in that game. Garcia had said, “One of the things that changed the course of the match was Cristiano Ronaldo’s missed opportunity in the first half. ” These comments caused a rift between Garcia and the former Real Madrid talisman.
Even if the reports of the alleged sacking prove to be true, Rudi Garcia would already have been one of the longest-serving coaches in the Saudi Pro League. Garcia joined the Saudi Arabian club back in June 2022 for a deal worth $6 million per year. Currently, neither Rudi Garcia nor Al-Nassr has addressed the rumors of Garcia’s sacking.