Cristiano Ronaldo Under Fire After Al-Nassr's AFC Champions League Defeat
Cristiano Ronaldo’s future at Al-Nassr has been thrown under the spotlight after the club’s bruising 4-0 collapse against Al-Ain in the opening round of the AFC Champions League Elite.
The defeat was bad. The reaction has been worse.
Ronaldo under fire after Al-Ain humiliation
Al-Nassr were outplayed and outthought by the UAE side, and the fallout has zeroed in on their captain. Sections of the club’s own support turned on Ronaldo, while pundits and media voices lined up to question his impact on the big stage, accusing him of failing to rise to the occasion against Al-Ain.
Into that storm stepped former Al-Nassr spokesman Saud Al-Sarami, who chose not to pull any punches.
Speaking on the “Al-Arabiya FM” programme, Al-Sarami openly raised the prospect of Ronaldo walking away mid-season, drawing a pointed comparison with Karim Benzema’s earlier departure from Saudi Arabia.
“Ronaldo will not play any non-technical role with Al-Nassr, and I do not rule out that he may leave the club in the winter Mercato, as happened with Karim Benzema previously, and this will happen entirely of his own accord,” he said.
“A spent card”
Al-Sarami then pushed his criticism even further, using language that will sting any elite player, let alone one of Ronaldo’s stature.
“Ronaldo has become a spent card and is unable to provide anything with Al-Nassr, and he must leave,” he declared, arguing that the club can no longer build around the 39-year-old and must instead reset its direction.
For Al-Sarami, the Al-Ain defeat did not just expose a bad night. It exposed a broken balance.
He believes Al-Nassr need to reorder their priorities and start reshaping the squad, with a particular focus on midfield. In his view, allowing Ronaldo to leave in January could free the club to strengthen key areas that have been brutally exposed in recent weeks.
Club silent as speculation grows
The timing of these comments could hardly be more charged. Al-Nassr are still reeling from the 4-0 loss, their dressing room under scrutiny and their project questioned at home and abroad.
Yet for all the noise around Ronaldo, one key element remains unchanged: silence from the top.
Al-Sarami’s prediction of a winter exit is, at this stage, nothing more than his own reading of the situation. Al-Nassr’s hierarchy have issued no statement on Ronaldo’s future, no hint that a January move is on the table, no indication that the captain’s role is under formal review.
So the questions linger.
Is this just a brutal reaction to one disastrous night in the AFC Champions League Elite, or the start of the endgame for Cristiano Ronaldo at Al-Nassr?
