Ex-Inter Miami coach hails Cristiano Ronaldo as GOAT after Al-Nassr felicitate superstar before draw with Al-Ahli
Former Inter Miami boss Phil Neville has hailed Cristiano Ronaldo as the GOAT after the Al-Nassr superstar created history last week. The 39-year-old became the first player to score 900 career goals for club and country.
Ronaldo achieved the milestone by scoring his team's second goal in Portugal's 2-1 win over Croatia in their UEFA Nations League opener. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner snapped a five-game scoreless run with his national team, having drawn blanks in five games at Euro 2024, where they lost to France on penalties in the quarter-final.
He also scored in the subsequent 2-1 win over Scotland to take his career goals tally to 901 as he returned to club football this weekend. His club, Al-Nassr, felicitated their captain on reaching the historic landmark.
Ronaldo posted a picture of himself from his team's 1-1 Saudi Pro League home draw with Al-Ahli Saudi, captioning his Instagram post:
"Until the last moment, keep believing!"
Among many players - current and former - and coaches who commented on the post was Neville, who had spent a short stint at Inter Miami before he was replaced by current boss Tata Martino.
Neville simply typed the GOAT emoticon in the comment. Here's a screenshot of his comment on Ronaldo's Instagram post:
Coming to the aforementioned game, Franck Kessie's 57th-minute strike set Al-Ahli to a memorable victory at Mrsool Park before Bassam Mohammed Alhurayji's equaliser in the ninth minute of stoppage time salvaged a point for Luis Castro's side.
The stalemate leaves the Knights of Najd in sixth place with five points after three games, a point behind leaders Al-Hilal, who have a game in hand.
Al-Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo registers 1 billion followers on social media
Apart from his on-field accomplishments, Cristiano Ronaldo has also created history off the field. On Friday, the Portugal captain became the first person to register a staggering one billion followers across social media, as reported by the BBC. That includes 61 million followers on his new YouTube channel UR Cristiano.
It's pertinent to note that it doesn't denote one billion individual followers, as many people follow him on multiple platforms like YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X (formerly called Twitter).
Nevertheless, the number is significant. For perspective, the Al-Nassr captain's arch-rival Lionel Messi's overall social media following is 623 million, while singer Selena Gomez is a distant second with 690 million.