Cristiano Ronaldo has made a winning start to life in the Saudi Pro League as he led Al Nassr to a 1-0 victory over Ettifaq in his first match since becoming the best paid footballer in history.
The Portuguese superstar took time to get going on Sunday, but there were promising signs for Al Nassr, who are eyeing domestic and continental silverware after the 37-year-old moved for deals totalling more than 400 million dollars.
However, Ronaldo’s league debut had an anticlimactic feel in front of 22,862 fans after he scored twice in this week’s lively 5-4 exhibition defeat to Lionel Messi’s Paris Saint-Germain.
Ronaldo, leading out Al Nassr as captain, made a low-key start in the first half, twice losing the ball with attempted trickery as his team-mates struggled to get him on the ball.
Ronaldo’s early shot from the edge of the box was deflected over, and he nearly met Abdulmajeed Al Sulaiheem’s cross that was headed in by Anderson Talisca for the opener on 31 minutes.
Shortly afterwards Ronaldo, met by shouts of “Siu!” every time he touched ball, blazed over with a free kick from an inviting position just outside the penalty area.
Al Nassr’s front three began to click in the second half and Ronaldo set up Pity Martinez and Talisca — after some trademark stepovers — for close chances in quick succession.
A swing and a miss at a bicycle kick showed Ronaldo was warming to his task, and he then attempted a shot from a nearly impossible angle after a dribble into the box.
But there was to be no goal for Ronaldo, watched by his girlfriend Georgina Rodriguez, in a win that kept Al Nassr on top of the Saudi Pro League.