Cristiano Ronaldo scored on his first look of pre-season as Al-Nassr recovered from a defensive blunder to beat Toulouse in Austria.
Two-time Saudi Professional League high scorer Ronaldo swept in from 20-year-old Brazilian Wesley’s right-wing cross after 33 minutes on the tiny Untersberg Area, the place team-mate Ayman Yahya’s air-kick go after failing to take care of a bouncing ball on the midway line allowed Yann Gboho to burst by means of and slot within the opener for the Ligue 1 membership.
Ronaldo was substituted at half-time for defensive midfielder Abdullah Al-Khaibari and fellow ahead Joao Felix, who joined from Chelsea for £43.7 million on Tuesday, was changed after 59 minutes by Saudi Arabia striker Mohammed Marran.
Enzo Faty headed towards a put up for Toulouse 4 minutes later, and Marran headed the winner from Nawaf Boushal’s supply from the correct with 14 minutes remaining.
Al Nassr vs Toulouse: Joao Felix debut
Joao Felix despatched an early shot broad after being teed up by former Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Southampton and Salzburg striker Sadio Mane.
The Portuguese was as soon as considered the world’s most enjoyable younger participant after scoring 20 targets in 43 video games in his debut season for Benfica, persuading Atletico Madrid supervisor Diego Simeone to pay £113million – the third-highest payment ever – for him.
Alongside an uneasy relationship with infamous taskmaster Simeone, the feeling struggled for kind and health earlier than being loaned to Chelsea in January 2023.
A subsequent mortgage swap to Barcelona once more produced patchy kind, inflicting cash-strapped Barca to determine towards making the deal everlasting, as a substitute signing Dani Olmo.
Atleti offered Joao Felix to Chelsea in change for England midfielder Conor Gallagher, with the then-Portugal worldwide valued at £45m in a deal seemingly linked to the Premier League’s Profitability and Sustainability Guidelines.
Six months right into a seven-year deal at Stamford Bridge, Joao Felix started a mortgage spell at AC Milan that yielded a return of three targets in 21 video games.
The 25-year-old will goal to attain his first non-competitive aim for his new membership when Al-Nassr go to Spanish facet Almeria on August 10 (18:00 BST / 13:00 ET / 10:00 PT).
Cristiano Ronaldo: First season below Jorge Jesus
Ronaldo featured for the primary time since signing a contract extension to finish uncertainty over the talisman’s future on the finish of the 2024/25 season.
New supervisor Jorge Jesus began with a 5-2 win over Austrian membership SK St Johann on Saturday, when Ronaldo was rested after beginning pre-season coaching and Al-Nassr’s targets got here from Mane, Abdulrahman Ghareeb, Mohamed Simakan, Abdulmajeed Al-Sulaiheem and an personal aim.
Jorge Jesus took cost earlier this month on a one-year contract. “With out his invitation, I definitely wouldn’t be there,” he mentioned of Ronaldo.
“The motivation shall be nice. I’m going to strive to make sure that Al-Nassr, which is likely one of the finest golf equipment in Saudi Arabia, can win titles.
The 70-year-old Portuguese received the Saudi Professional League and King Cup with Al-Hilal in 2023/24.
“Cristiano Ronaldo is a participant who has all the time received all the things he’s performed for,” added Jorge Jesus.
“He hasn’t received in Saudi Arabia but. I’ll see if I might help him. We converse the identical language, all the things is straightforward.”
Sadio Mane stats
Liverpool and Senegal icon Mane joined Al-Nassr from Bayern Munich in August 2023 on a reported tax-free wage of greater than £34m.
Now 33, Mane shared the Premier League Golden Boot and received the Champions League in 2018/19, then received the 2019/20 Premier League with the Reds.
He contributed 19 targets and 11 assists in 46 appearances in all competitions in his first marketing campaign with Al-Nassr, then scored 18 and arrange 14 in 47 matches final season.
Cristiano Ronaldo contract
Regardless of top-scoring within the high flight in every of his two seasons with Al-Nassr, who’ve colosssal monetary would possibly by means of the nation’s Public Funding Fund, Ronaldo is but to win the Saudi title.
Shortly after Al-Nassr completed third final season – 13 factors behind champions Al-Ittihad – Ronaldo appeared to strongly trace on social media that he had performed his remaining sport for the membership.
He agreed a brand new contract precisely a month later, having scored in Portugal’s triumphant Nations League semi-final towards Germany and remaining towards Spain.
The five-time Champions League winner scored 35 targets in 41 matches throughout all competitions for Al-Nassr in 2024/25.
Ronaldo weekly wage
On monetary web site Forbes’ all-time listing of the best incomes athletes in a yr, solely boxer Floyd Mayweather eclipses Ronaldo, having pocketed an estimated $300m (£226m) in 2015 and $285m (£214.5m) in 2018.
Ronaldo was mentioned to have surpassed $1 billion (£771m) in profession earnings two years earlier than changing into probably the most high-profile footballer to maneuver to Saudi Arabia.
Ronaldo’s first Al-Nassr deal was broadly reported to be price £14.75m a month or £3.4m per week. His annual wage was mentioned to be £177m per yr, made up of £62m for his soccer wage, supplemented by business bonuses.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner has a wide range of profitable sponsorship offers, together with his latest endorsements together with Whoop, online game UFL and cryptocurrency change Binance.
When does Ronaldo’s 2025/26 season begin with Al Nassr?
The 2025/26 Saudi Professional League season will begin in late August, with the fixtures but to be confirmed in late July. You’ll be able to control any bulletins here.
Al-Ittihad, who’re managed by legendary defender Laurent Blanc, are the reigning champions, having completed eight factors above Al-Hilal and 13 forward of Al-Nassr final season.
