Al-Nassr manager claims Cristiano Ronaldo's goal was wrongly ruled out for offside in draw against Al-Raed
Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr were held to a 1-1 draw by Al-Raed in their first match of the Saudi Pro League 2024/25 season on Thursday, August 22. Despite a goal in the first half, the Knights of Najd dropped points after Al-Raed equalized via a penalty in the second half.
A major turning point in the second half was when Cristiano Ronaldo's 76th-minute goal was ruled out for offside. The Portuguese veteran was served an enticing through-ball into the penalty box and he obliged by directing it into the Al-Raed net. After a lengthy VAR check, the goal was finally given offside.
Al-Nassr manager Luis Castro wasn't happy with the decision and stated that Ronaldo's goal was incorrectly called offside in the post-match press conference. He also opined that Al-Nassr deserved a penalty kick which wasn't awarded. He said (via Al-Nassr Zone on X):
“The cancellation of Ronaldo's goal is incorrect and we have a penalty kick that was not given.”
The Canary Yellow outfit have had a tough start to the season. They lost the Saudi Super Cup against Al-Hilal despite going into half-time with a 1-0 lead. Their league rivals turned the tide around in the second 45 minutes and scored four goals within just 17 minutes.
Al-Nassr will face Al-Feiha in their next Saudi Pro League fixture on Tuesday, August 27.
Cristiano Ronaldo reaches a major milestone in Al-Nassr's game against Al-Raed
Cristiano Ronaldo hit a personal milestone during Al-Nassr's opening SPL game against Al-Raed. The Portuguese legend scored in the first half of the game to complete 50 Saudi Premier League goals.
Since joining the SPL side in January 2023 after his contract at Manchester United was terminated, Ronaldo has been in prolific goalscoring form. In 67 games for the Knights of Najd across competitions, Cristiano Ronaldo has scored 61 goals and assisted 16 more.
Al-Nassr congratulated Ronaldo during the game through their X (formerly Twitter) handle. They wrote:
"50 SPL Goals and counting! (goat emoji)."
Cristiano Ronaldo's goalscoring record has been top-notch in every club he has played in his career. He is the highest goalscorer in the history of Real Madrid, with 450 goals and 131 assists in 438 games for Los Blancos.
Ronaldo joined Juventus in 2018 after spending nine years at the Santiago Bernabeu. In 134 games for the Italian giants, he scored 101 times and racked up 22 assists. Despite not being a pure goalscorer during his first stint at Manchester United, Ronaldo managed to score 145 times in 346 games for the Red Devils (across two stints).
Finally, the Portuguese forward is the highest goalscorer in the history of men's international football and has scored 130 goals in 212 appearances for Portugal.