Who is Anderson Talisca? Cristiano Ronaldo is being outscored by his Al-Nassr teammate
The race to be crowned Saudi Pro League top goalscorer is heating up with just eight games remaining.
Cristiano Ronaldo has made an impressive start to life in the Saudi Pro League, but is still behind Al-Nassr teammate Anderson Talisca in the goal-scoring charts.
Since making the switch from Manchester United in January, Ronaldo has scored 11 goals in just 11 games. Talisca, an attacking midfielder, has racked up 16 goals in 16 games to be the league’s joint-top goalscorer. Talisca is level on goals another former Manchester United forward, Odion Ighalo.
Here’s what you need to know about Anderson Talisca, Al-Nassr’s ‘other’ goal-scoring supremo…
Anderson Talisca’s career
After breaking through at Brazilian side Bahia, the 6ft3 forward was snapped up by Portuguese giants Benfica in 2014 and brought to Europe. He was called up to the Brazil squad for the first time later that year as a replacement for Lucas Moura, but did not make an appearance.
In his second season in Portugal he fell out of favour and was sent on loan to Besiktas in the Turkish Super Lig. Talisca enjoyed a prolific spell in Turkey with 37 goals in 80 matches in all competitions.
After impressing in Turkey his parent club, Benfica, sent him out on loan again, this time to Guangzhou Evergrande of the Chinese Super League. In 2018 the deal was made permanent and he enjoyed fairly successful spell in China, winning the Chinese Super League in his second year at the club.
Football in China was brought to a halt by the covid-19 pandemic and he signed with Al-Nassr for the 2021/22 season. So far he has racked up 39 goals in just 51 appearances for the Saudi Pro League side, establishing himself as one of the most dangerous forwards in the league.
Talisca and Ronaldo vying for top goalscorer
There are eight games remaining in this season’s Saudi Pro League, meaning that both Al-Nassr players stand a chance of clinching the award for top goalscorer. Ronaldo and Talisca are the only two players in the league to have averaged at least one goal per game this season.
Ronaldo is currently five goals adrift of the top scorers, but has scored 11 goals in just nine games so far.
However there is no sign of rivalry between the two Al-Nassr stars. Ronaldo has been installed as the side’s penalty taker since his arrival but gave Talisca the opportunity to score the winning penalty in a game against Abha last month.
Talisca described the gesture as a sign of the “mutual respect” between the two players and told Saudi’s SSC channel that he is focused on the team.
“Every top player does his job. My full focus is on Al-Nassr winning, not on being the league’s top scorer. My main goal is to lead the team to win, and then everything else will come,” Talisca said.