All eyes on Cristiano Ronaldo
After missing two games in protest, the Portuguese forward returns with the title race unchanged and questions lingering.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s standoff with the Saudi Pro League comes to an end today. After sitting out two league games in protest, the Portuguese forward will be back in uniform this afternoon away to Al Fateh (10:30 a.m. ET). It brings the curtain down on a brief strike that many have welcomed as over – though it is far from clear that it changed anything.
The dispute began when the Public Investment Fund approved Karim Benzema’s signing for Al Hilal. The transfer had come close to collapsing, but it was ultimately finalized, and Ronaldo’s former Real Madrid teammate joined Al Nassr’s fiercest domestic rival. Ronaldo felt the league was favoring Al Hilal, the current leaders, and failing to guarantee equal conditions. The league responded bluntly: “No individual, however important, determines decisions beyond his own club.” By then, however, the reputational damage had already been done.
There was talk of possible sanctions for Al Nassr’s No. 7, since a player cannot refuse to play without medical justification. Any punishment would have been triggered by a third consecutive absence, a threshold that will now not be reached. On Wednesday he was named in the squad and traveled to Al Hofuf with Al Nassr ahead of the clash.
Ronaldo missed two fixtures – against Al Riyadh and Al Ittihad – both of which Al Nassr won, 1-0 and 2-0. Al Hilal also collected maximum points over the same stretch, meaning the standings remain unchanged. Ronaldo’s side still sit four points off the top after those two rounds.
If the protest yielded anything concrete, it was the clearing of outstanding salary payments owed by Al Nassr to club employees, a cause Ronaldo folded into his stance. Local media also report impending changes within the club’s leadership.
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