Christiano Ronaldo made headlines over the weekend after scoring another astonishing goal, pushing closer to the 1,000 goals milestone and fueling fans’ hopes for a final end Al Nassr‘s title drought. Now that the Portuguese star is sidelined for the umpteenth time AFC Champions League 2 agreement, head coach Jorge Jesus made the club’s season priorities clear to Ronaldo and the rest of the squad.
Al Nassr returned from the October international break in top form to complete a dominant 5-1 win over Al Fateh on Saturday. After a hat-trick from João Félix and goals from Ronaldo and Kingsley Coman, the Riyadh giants became the the only team in the 2025-2026 Saudi Pro League season to start with five consecutive winssitting alone at the top of the table.
During his post-match press conference, Jorge Jesus first praised the team’s performance before underlining the club’s main focus this season: “For me the competition is more important than the AFC Champions League. We have players at Al Nassr who have been here for three or four years without winning the league.”
Since Ronaldo’s arrival at Al Nassr in 2022, the club has consistently challenged for the title but fell short in the latter part of the last three seasons. The Portuguese coach doubled down on his priorities, adding: “If I had to choose between the Elite Cup and the competition, I would choose the competition”, downplaying regional competition in favor of domestic glory.
Kingsley Coman celebrates with Cristiano Ronaldo Al-Nassr FC’s fourth goal.
Ronaldo will miss another AFC Champions League Two match
After ineligible for the AFC Champions League Elite this season Al Nassr will participate in the recently introduced second-tier tournament, the AFC Champions League 2. As a result, the club has shifted its focus to what it considers its main goal: winning the Saudi Pro League.
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The team traveled to India to face FC Goa on Wednesday for matchday 3 of the Champions League Two. Al Nassr goes into the match as big favorites after winning the first two group matches, while the Indian team has lost both matches, conceded four goals and could not find the net.
When the team landed in India, Ronaldo’s absence quickly became the biggest talking point. As is the trend in this competition, Jorge Jesus named all the foreign players in the traveling squad, except Ronaldo, who has been left out again due to restAnd Marcelo Brozovicwho will be sidelined after picking up an injury against Al Fateh.
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