Cristiano Ronaldo & the one Saudi club he’s NEVER scored against
Cristiano Ronaldo has scored against all but one of the teams he’s faced in the Saudi Pro League since arriving as the league’s poster boy back in January 2023.
Al-Nassr head into the new campaign looking to retain their Saudi Pro League crown after appointing former Tottenham and Nottingham Forest boss Ange Postecoglou.
Postecoglou replaces veteran Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus, who guided Al-Nassr to their first league title of the Ronaldo era before departing to take charge of the Portugal national team.
After an unceremonious end to his second spell at Manchester United and a disappointing 2022 World Cup campaign with Portugal, the Saudi Pro League has proved the ideal environment for Ronaldo to continue his pursuit of 1,000 career goals.
Ronaldo had appeared to be on the downslope, regularly dropped from the starting line-up for club and country by Erik ten Hag and Fernando Santos. Since moving to Saudi Arabia, however, the veteran five-time Ballon d’Or winner has continued to compile eye-catching goalscoring numbers well into his forties.
He’s scored 102 goals in 107 Saudi Pro League appearances, which is his best goalscoring ratio of any league after his prime years in La Liga with Real Madrid.
The 41-year-old has notched 123 goals in 142 games in all competitions for Al-Nassr, won two Saudi Pro League Golden Boots, and has scored against all but one team he’s faced in the Saudi top flight.
Ronaldo’s favourite victims include Al-Wehda (10 goals in five Saudi Pro League games), Al-Fateh (nine in seven), Damac (nine in six) and Al-Okhdood (seven in five). He has a respectable return against most of the traditional giants of Saudi football, including in six in six against Al-Ittihad, four in six against Al-Ahli and three in seven against Al-Hilal.
Of the 24 different teams that Ronaldo has played against in the Saudi Pro League, he’s failed to score against just one – Al-Batin.
Who are Al-Batin?
Ronaldo hit the ground running when he arrived at Al-Nassr midway through the 2022-23 campaign.
He drew a blank on his debut against Al-Ettifaq, but opened his account in a 2-2 draw on his second appearance and followed that up by scoring all four goals in a 4-0 thrashing of Al-Wehda. Two assists against Al-Taawoun and a hat-trick against Damac soon followed.
But the marquee signing drew a blank on his sixth appearance in the Saudi Pro League, a 3-1 victory over little-known outfit Al-Batin.
They play in a 6000-capacity stadium and were relegated at the end of that season, and haven’t been back up since.
Keeping Ronaldo out puts them in pretty exclusive company, with Leganes, Benevento, Chievo, Wolves, Leicester City, Sheffield United, Leeds United and Crystal Palace in not conceding to the Portuguese icon in a league game.
Al-Faisaly and Al-Diriyah are newly promoted to the Saudi Pro League in 2026-27 and will be looking to add their names to that list this season.
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