{"id":476815,"date":"2026-02-15T16:37:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T16:37:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/476815\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T16:37:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T16:37:09","slug":"cristiano-ronaldo-breaks-silence-after-ending-al-nassr-strike-in-perfect-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/476815\/","title":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo Breaks Silence After Ending Al Nassr Strike in Perfect Way"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cristiano Ronaldo looked to the future with his social media message after scoring upon his return to Al Nassr\u2019s first team on Saturday.<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old veteran had missed three successive games for the club funding his world-leading salary before finding the net 18 minutes into this weekend\u2019s trip to Al Fateh. The first two fixtures\u2014which Al Nassr won\u2014were skipped by Ronaldo as part of a protest against the club\u2019s supposed lack<\/a> of transfer ambition.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo brought an end to this strike<\/a> in the week reportedly because Al Nassr had agreed to pay a series of overdue salaries for other staff members. Two of the Portuguese forward\u2019s closest allies on the board also happened to have their powers reinstated ahead of what many expect to be a more active summer transfer window.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother step forward,\u201d Ronaldo wrote on X<\/a> after he opened the scoring in a 2\u20130 win for Al Nassr following the conclusion of his strike. \u201cLet\u2019s keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n

After the unseemly fallout from his very public tantrum, it\u2019s understandable why Ronaldo would want to shift the focus forward rather than look back at his most recent actions.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo Faces Fight for Saudi Pro League Top Scorer Title\"Ivan<\/p>\n

Ivan Toney has been in fine form for Al Ahli. | Getty\/Yasser Bakhsh<\/p>\n

Ronaldo\u2019s crisp side-foot into the far corner may have been the 962nd goal of his senior career for club and country, taking his tally to 18 in 19 Saudi Pro League games this season. However, he is not the most prolific scorer in the Kingdom\u2019s top flight.<\/p>\n

That distinction currently belongs to former Brentford<\/a> forward Ivan Toney. The England international has rattled in 20 goals across as many league outings this season for Al Ahli, who sit just two points behind Al Nassr in third place.<\/p>\n

Toney owes his lofty standing to a post-Christmas burst. Since the turn of the year, the 29-year-old has racked up 14 goals in just 10 games. Ronaldo can only boast five strikes in 2026, with his ratio not particularly aided by self-imposed exile.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo isn\u2019t even alone with his tally of 18 goals\u201428-year-old Mexico international Juli\u00e1n Qui\u00f1ones has also amassed the same haul for Al Qadsiah this season.<\/p>\n

Ronaldo\u2019s Behavior Defended by Portugal Manager\"Cristiano<\/p>\n

The decision over Cristiano Ronaldo’s (right) international career is a huge call for Portugal manager Roberto Mart\u00ednez. | MAURICE VAN STEEN\/ANP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

While some have questioned quite how Ronaldo has the nerve to refuse to play for a side which pays him more than $700,000 per day Portugal national team manager Roberto Mart\u00ednez has been quick to leap to his player\u2019s defense. <\/p>\n

The international coach was asked by BBC Sport<\/a> what it was like managing a character with the ego and global renown of Ronaldo. \u201cVery easy,\u201d Mart\u00ednez smiled, \u201cbecause of his high standards, his expectations of how the work should be done and his commitment to the game. He truly is an example of what you should do to represent Portugal and the national team.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd now he\u2019s adapted, obviously, after 21 years in the national team\u2014he\u2019s adjusted. He\u2019s a goalscorer, he\u2019s an important player for us, and it\u2019s the player that he is now that is important for me. As a national team coach, a player that has scored 25 goals in the last 30 international games… it\u2019s not that he\u2019s playing because of what he\u2019s done in the past, it\u2019s what he\u2019s done now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ronaldo turned 41 in February and will become the second-oldest outfield player in men\u2019s World Cup<\/a> history should he be picked for this summer\u2019s tournament. There is little doubt in Mart\u00ednez\u2019s mind that his increasingly immobile center forward is up to the task.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got all the stats,\u201d the manager insisted. \u201cIf you were going to analyse a player that is dropping at physical level, that\u2019s not the case. His physical stats are of a player that could go on and on and on. I think it\u2019s more a question of when he\u2019ll feel that is the right time. I think he\u2019s a player that is very critical with himself. When he doesn\u2019t see that he can help the team, he\u2019ll be the one that will decide when to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Al Nassr found out, Ronaldo decides when he stops and when he starts again.<\/p>\n

READ THE LATEST SOCCER NEWS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND MATCH REACTION<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cristiano Ronaldo looked to the future with his social media message after scoring upon his return to Al…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":476816,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-476815","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476815","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=476815"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/476815\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/476816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=476815"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=476815"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=476815"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}