Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr set to face Spanish club in pre-season friendly, date confirmed
Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr is scheduled to meet Segunda Division side Almeria in a pre-season friendly in Spain on August 8. The Knights of Najd are coming off successive runner-up finishes in the Saudi Pro League.
As announced by Almeria on their website, they are set to host the Saudi Pro League giants in a pre-season friendly next month at 2100 hours local time. The club also announced that fans can use their season tickets to watch the game from the stadium.
Ronaldo is set to feature in the game, having scored a brace in Real Madrid's 2-1 win on his last visit to the stadium in December 2012. The likes of Aymeric Laporte, Sadio Mane and Marcelo Brozovic are expected to feature in the August 8 game.
Almeria commenced their pre-season with a 2-1 win over Granada before losing 3-1 to Benfica. They returned to winning ways with a slender 1-0 win over Malaga away on Saturday (July 27) before drawing 1-1 at home to Al-Sadd the next day.
The Rojiblancos have further friendlies with Algeciras (August 1), Cartagena (August 4) and Al-Nassr before opening their new Segunda Division campaign at Racing on August 18.
How Al-Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo fared at Euro 2024
Al-Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo endured an underwhelming Euro 2024 campaign in Germany. The 39-year-old drew blanks in five games as Portugal crashed out in the quarter-final on penalties (5-3) to France following a goalless 120 minutes.
Playing in a record-extending sixth European Championship, the five-time Ballon d'Or winner went goalless in the group stage. It marked the first time in 11 major tournament appearances that he did so.
The Al-Nassr captain's luck didn't change in the knockouts. He notably missed an extra-time penalty in the Round-of-16 shootout win (3-0) over Slovenia, which would have made him the oldest Euros scorer and the first to net in six editions of the competitions.
Ronaldo redeemed himself in the ensuing shootout, becoming the oldest player to score in an Euros shootout and the first to do so in three shootouts. However, another blank in the next game - despite another converted penalty in the shootout - ended a disappointing European campaign for the 2016 champions.