December 30th 2022 was a dream day for Al Nassr fans. Rumors of a mega-transfer and a $200-million deal for one of the greats of all time joining their club had been circling the newspapers for a month.

Although it seemed unlikely as time passed by – even Ronaldo seemed to dismiss the possibility of playing in Saudi Arabia on the Piers Morgan show – the transfer that was set to shake the Saudi footballing landscape finally took place.

Al Nassr, in the midst of a title race alongside Al Ittihad and Al Shabab at that time, instantly became favorites to pull away and win it all.

Ronaldo was unveiled in spectacular fashion on January 3rd. His responses to questions from journalists at his unveiling showed that he was motivated to help Al Nassr succeed and to help Saudi football develop.

Over 25,000 fans packed the KSU Stadium and were treated to a light show before the man himself stepped out onto the pitch to greet the fans.

Things seemed to start out positively for Ronaldo. Although he had to wait two games due to a ban stemming from his time in England before making his debut, he instantly started bonding with his new teammates. Just days after his unveiling, he took part in teammate Mohammad Al Fatil’s birthday celebrations alongside the rest of the squad.

Al Nassr’s subsequent game against Al Taee was postponed due to electrical issues resulting from heavy rain – a sign of the turbulent reality that was to come.

Over 22,000 fans packed the KSU Stadium on January 22nd for Ronaldo’s long anticipated debut, in which Ronaldo was also given the responsibility of being the team captain.

Expectations were high, but the reality was tumultuous. Ronaldo created a few decent chances to score and displayed his trademark step overs to create opportunities for Talisca and Pity Martinez, but Ronaldo lost the ball multiple times while attempting trickery and his team mates struggled to get him the ball.

He quickly acclimated to Saudi football and it was not long before he started to give the fans their money’s worth. He scored his first goal in the next league game against upper table side Al Fateh, a stoppage time equaliser, and then went on to score four goals against Al Wehda in Mecca a few days later in a 4-0 win.

Ronaldo was electrifying and seemed unstoppable against Al Wehda, his dashing attacking runs and stepovers making a mockery of their defenders and his powerful curling shots leaving the goalkeeper helpless. Al Wehda played a high line, and were thoroughly punished for doing so.

In the next game, he helped orchestrate a 2-1 win over upper table side Al Taawoun by assisting both the goals and followed it up with an electrifying hat trick against Damac in Khamis Mushait the following week.

His performances in his first full month (starting against Al Fateh and ending against Damac) deservedly won him the Saudi Pro League player of the month for February. Ronaldo was scoring and assisting for fun, and it seemed destined that the title would be headed Al Nassr’s way.

Al Nassr’s next game was against bottom of the table Al Batin at home. It was expected that Al Nassr would win comfortably. However, Al Batin surprisingly scored first with a counterattack. Al Batin then defended resolutely, as they rode out wave after wave of Al Nassr attack.

Extra attention was paid to Ronaldo to make sure that he was kept quiet for most of the night. Even though Al Nassr were able to win by scoring three stoppage time goals, the victory was far from comfortable and Al Batin provided a blueprint for how teams should approach their games against Al Nassr and minimise Ronaldo’s impact on the pitch.

Al Nassr and Ronaldo’s very next game was against title challengers Al Ittihad in Jeddah. This game was crucial to Al Nassr’s chances of winning the title, as a loss would mean that Al Nassr would fall to second place and the destiny of the title was out of their hands.

It was an even game for the most part, with neither side being able to muster many meaningful chances. Ronaldo had a good chance to score in the second half, but his powerful strike was met by the outstretched arms of keeper Marcelo Grohe. A late defensive miscommunication led to Romarinho scoring, as Al Ittihad won 1-0.

The title, which seemed almost destined to go to Al Nassr two months ago, was suddenly out of their hands.

After their frustrating outings against Al Batin and their loss to Al Ittihad, Al Nassr were desperate to perform well in their next two games, both of which were at home against Abha.

Al Nassr won both of them but there was cause for concern, as Abha were able to use the blueprints set in stone by Al Batin and Al Ittihad to frustrate Ronaldo.

In the first game against Abha, Ronaldo kicked a water bottle and stormed off the pitch at half time as he was angry with the referee blowing for half time as Ronaldo had the opportunity to launch a counter-attack.

Ronaldo had one of his worst outings since joining Al Nassr, and was substituted off for the first time since his arrival in Saudi Arabia. In the second game, Abha took an early lead and held it for almost 60 minutes.

Al Nassr struggled throughout the game but they fought back to score two late goals and win 2-1. Ronaldo broke his three game drought without a goal, but his and the team’s performance in their two games against Abha was far from satisfactory.

Al Ittihad won against Al Fateh 5-1 on the same day that Al Nassr won 2-1 against Abha, adding to the cause for concern. By now, Ittihad clearly had the upper hand in the title race and it would be a challenge for Al Nassr to keep up.

Ronaldo and Al Nassr bounced back and reminded the league of how destructive their attack can be in the next game against Al Adalah. The game started off shakily, but Al Nassr were clinical and ended up routing Al Adalah 5-0. Ronaldo scored twice, once with a penalty and once with a bullet from just inside the box, firing into the right corner.

His partner in attack Anderson Talisca also contributed to the rout by scoring twice. Ayman Yahya put the cherry on the cake with his goal in the 90+8’ minute.

This win should have given Al Nassr confidence heading into their next few games, but the team failed to replicate their previous performance.

Al Nassr were held to a 0-0 draw by mid table side Al Feiha in their next game. Al Nassr had 17 shots in that game but weren’t able to create many real chances as they had only 3 shots on target. Ronaldo played the full game, but was unable to do much to break the deadlock.

Manager Rudi Garcia criticised the players publicly, stating that he wasn’t satisfied with the team’s performance in his post game press conference. Adding to the tension, reports mentioned that there was a heated argument immediately after the game between Garcia and several Al Nassr players, including Ronaldo. Ronaldo questioned Garcia’s tactical approach as he was frustrated with the team’s overall performance.

Title challengers Al Ittihad had won 1-2 on the same day and Al Nassr’s dream of a first title since 2019 was slipping farther and farther away as the gap between the two sides widened.

Al Nassr went on to promptly fire their manager Rudi Garcia. Although Ronaldo mentioned that it was a pleasure to work with Garcia on his Instagram story right after the news broke, the tension within the Al Nassr dressing room was clearly palpable.

Al Nassr had a game in five days against their biggest rival Al Hilal, had just fired their manager, and most of their recent performances were very underwhelming.

Dinko Jelicic was appointed the interim manager of Al Nassr, being tasked with getting the team ready for the Al Hilal game and keeping Al Nassr alive in the title race. Meeting these objectives seemed very difficult, but the fact that Jelicic had coached the Al Nassr youth team before meant that doing so was not out of the question.

Al Hilal had a rough season but benefitted from the return of key players from injury and the instability at Al Nassr. It was an even game for the most part, but two defensive mistakes, one handball and one careless sliding tackle, on either side of half time from Al Nassr led to two penalties for Al Hilal, both of which Odion Ighalo calmly converted. Al Hilal also had better chances than Al Nassr to score from open play.

However, Al Nassr defended well enough to prevent Al Hilal from scoring any non-penalty goals that day. Ronaldo was once again kept quiet, and the team had only three shots on target. Given the instability at Al Nassr, the game could’ve been worse but the fact that Al Nassr had a similar number of total shots as Al Hilal was a good sign.

If Al Nassr were to win the title, their performances would need to improve, and would need to do so quickly. Time was running out as the end of the season was fast approaching.

Al Nassr crashed out of the Kings Cup with a shock 1-0 loss to lower mid-table Al Wehda at home a few days later. The fact that Al Nassr completely dominated and Ronaldo waltzed his way through the Al Wehda defense in Mecca just two months ago highlighted the disparity in Al Nassr’s performances throughout the season.

Adding insult to injury, Al Wehda played with a man down for most of the second half and Ronaldo played the whole game, yet Al Nassr were unable to score. Al Nassr had 24 total shots and 19 more than Al Wehda did, but were unable to break the deadlock in a frustrating evening.

Al Nassr got off to a blitzing start in their next game against Al Raed as Ronaldo scored a precise header within 4 minutes. Al Raed did well to limit the damage for the next 50 or so minutes as they tried to limit the amount of space that the Al Nassr attackers got, but playing with motivation after a turbulent month, Al Nassr were able to score another goal through Abdulrahman Ghareeb’s skillful finish where he took out two defenders and fired the ball into the bottom left corner.

Mohammed Maran nutmegging the Al Raed goalkeeper and Al-Sulaiheem’s curling goal into the top right corner capped off a comfortable 4-0 victory for Al Nassr. Al Ittihad won against Al Shabab on a 90+16’ minute penalty the previous day, so Al Nassr’s victory against Al Raed was crucial as it helped them keep pace in the title race.

Al Nassr had 10 days of rest before their next game against Al Khaleej and received good news when Al Ittihad stumbled to a 2-1 defeat against Al Taawon in midweek. Al Nassr had the opportunity to potentially close the gap to 1 point with a win against Al Khaleej.

Once again, however, Al Nassr failed to capitalize. Al Khaleej scored first in the 4th minute, but Al Nassr fought back to score an equaliser not too long afterward. Al Nassr continued to attack for most of the game, trying to break through the tricky Al Khaleej defense. Ronaldo created a few good chances and scored the winner were it not called back for offside, but Al Khaleej did well to limit the space he was allocated.

Al Nassr weren’t able to find a second breakthrough as the game ended 1-1. Ronaldo’s form seemed to be improving, but it looked like it would be too late as Al Ittihad thumped Abha 4-0 on the same evening. It was almost a certainty that the title would belong to Al Ittihad now as Al Nassr failed to close the gap with just 3 games remaining.

Ronaldo continued his good form in the next game against Al Taee and helped lead Al Nassr to a win in the town of Ha’il. Before firing his penalty into the bottom left corner to break the deadlock, Ronaldo won a free kick in a dangerous area, had a powerful shot from long range that just missed the target, and the goalkeeper had to stretch his arms to save a curling effort from him.

Ronaldo’s pace kept the Al Taee defense on their feet throughout the game. Ronaldo’s attacking partner Anderson Talisca intercepted an Al Taee defender’s misplaced pass late on in the game and scored, ensuring that the three points went to Al Nassr, keeping their faint title hopes alive as Al Nassr didn’t fall further behind Al Ittihad.

Al Nassr’s next game was at home against a top four side in Al Shabab. Inconsistent all season, Al Nassr had to win in order to keep their faint title hopes alive. Al Shabab were by far the better of the two sides early on, and scored two early goals. Cristian Guanca scored a penalty to give Al Shabab a 1-0 lead before Ronaldo’s header hit the crossbar.

Al Shabab then added a second within 15 minutes and Al Nassr found themselves trailing 0-2 and out of the title race with just 40 minutes played. However, Ronaldo delivered one of his best performances in the second half of the season as his performance led Al Nassr to come back and win the game 3-2.

Ronaldo scored the go-ahead goal for Al Nassr in which he dribbled past two defenders and curled his shot into the top right corner. His scintillating performance was akin to that against Atalanta Bergamo at Old Trafford two years ago, in which his team also fell 0-2 behind and he scored the go ahead goal as his team won 3-2.

Al Nassr’s relative position to Al Ittihad had unfortunately not improved despite this brilliant comeback, as Al Ittihad had won against Al Batin on the same evening.

Al Nassr, however, failed to replicate their recent brilliant performances in their next game against Ettifaq. Ettifaq scored first and took a 1-0 lead into half time, but Al Nassr fought back to level the score in the 56th minute. With Al Ittihad winning against Al Feiha, Al Nassr needed to find a winner to stay alive in the title race. Al Nassr, however, was unable to do so despite having a ridiculous 30 shots on the night, of which 8 were on target. Ronaldo’s impact on the game was minimal.

He didn’t even go close to scoring despite taking two free kicks from dangerous positions – one was a comfortable save by the goalkeeper and one went way over the bar. In fact, Ettifaq almost found a late winner were it not for a brilliant save from Al Nassr’s goalkeeper. Al Ittihad held onto their lead against Al Feiha and won 3-0.

The title race is now officially over. Al Ittihad were officially champions for the first time in their 14 year history. Ronaldo, one of the greatest players of this generation, could not help Al Nassr win the championship. Frustration, anger, and a season filled with so much promise and excitement for Al Nassr came to an end.

Al Nassr blew a golden opportunity to win the title. Even though they held onto first place for much of the season, they became more inconsistent as the season progressed and ultimately, even the addition of an all time great like Ronaldo was not able to help them win the title.

This season has to be viewed as a failure for Ronaldo and Al Nassr. Although he started off well by scoring two hat tricks and earning player of the month in February, he only averaged around 0.5 goals a game afterward in a league that many in the media dubbed a “farmers league”, as he became visibly frustrated and angry as the season progressed.

Despite Al Nassr investing so much money into a player that they thought would guarantee the title, they ironically slipped from first to second after his addition.

Ronaldo had moments of individual brilliance later on in the season, as seen in the games against Al Shabab and Al Taee, that echoed his European performances, his inconsistency became evident. Ultimately, his lack of production in crucial and winnable games against Ettifaq, and Al Feiha was costly as Al Nassr failed to win the title.

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