On Monday, Cristiano Ronaldo broke the record for most goals scored in a season when he concluded the Saudi Pro League.
Ronaldo scored two goals in Riyadh as Al-Nassr defeated Al-Ittihad 4-2 to increase his league total to 35, one more than Abderrazak Hamdallah’s record from 2019.
Ronaldo, who had previously had two goals disallowed for offside, chested down a long cross from Mohammed Al-Fatil and opened the score with a low effort from the left side of the box in the last seconds of the first half.
Victorious Stroke and Standing Ovation
With twenty-one minutes left, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner headed home a corner from Marcelo Brozovic with great fanfare. Five minutes later, he was replaced off the field to a standing ovation from the home crowd.
Ronaldo, who finished the season with four hat tricks and one red card, had an action-packed campaign. Additionally, he was punished for making an offensive gesture against Al-Shabab supporters in February who were shouting the name of Lionel Messi, Ronaldo’s longtime nemesis in soccer.
Al-Hilal, a local rival that won the title more than two weeks ago and went undefeated through the 34-round league on Monday, finishing 14 points ahead of Al-Nassr in second place.
The Dominant Season of Al-Hilal
Even without Neymar, who joined the team in August from Paris Saint-Germain but sustained an ACL injury that ended the season in October, Al-Hilal was too powerful.
In the dying moments, Aleksandar Mitrovic scored the game’s winning goal to seal a 2-1 victory over Al-Wehda and conclude the season. The Serbian striker, who joined from Fulham in London last summer, scored 27 goals in the league, second only to Ronaldo.
Al-Hilal set a new world record for a top-tier team with its 34-game winning streak across all competitions en route to capturing the championship.
Coach Jorge Jesus remarked, “This season has been truly exceptional for the team, arguably our best ever.” “The credit goes to the immense talent within the squad and the incredible sense of unity that transcends both on and off-field interactions.”
The Disappointing Season of Al-Ittihad
The defending champion’s poor season came to an end with Al-Ittihad’s loss against Al-Nassr. Even with N’Golo Kante and Fabinho in midfield, who were bought from Chelsea and Liverpool, respectively, the squad from Jeddah could only finish in fifth place due to Karim Benzema’s struggles with injury.
Nuno Santo’s coaching career came to an end in November due to poor performance; however, the Portuguese strategist rejoined the English Premier League a month later, this time to take over Nottingham Forest.
Al Ahli Comes in Third
Trailing Al-Nassr by 17 points at the end, Al-Ahli, the fourth of the ‘Big Four’ clubs acquired by the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia last June, came in third. Former Liverpool forward Roberto Firmino’s late goal, his tenth of the season, helped Al-Ahli defeat Al-Fayha 1-0.
While Ronaldo garnered most of the attention, he still has one more opportunity to finish the season with a trophy when Al-Nassr takes on Al-Hilal in the King’s Cup final on Friday.
