Cristiano Ronaldo should start when Al-Nassr travel to take on Al-Ahli in the Saudi Pro League on Friday, March 15. The Knights of Najd will want to return to winning ways after going two matches in the league without a victory.
Al-Nassr have not been in the best of forms lately. They recently exited the AFC Champions League following their defeat to Al-Ain in the quarterfinal stage. They lost the first leg 1-0 at Al-Ain's home ground last week.
Luis Castro's side won 4-3 in the second leg in midweek with Ronaldo scoring a 118th-minute penalty to send the game to a penalty shootout where they eventually lost.
Al-Nassr will now look to get their league campaign back on track against Al-Ahli on Friday. Cristiano Ronaldo should therefore be one of the first names on the team-sheet as his side look to secure three points.
Ronaldo could be partnered alongside Sadio Mane and Abdulrahman Ghareeb to form a three-man attack. The trio started together against Al-Ain on Monday, with the latter getting on the scoresheet as well.
Despite their two winless games, Al-Nassr are still second in the Saudi Pro League standings, having picked up 53 points from 23 matches. However, they are now 12 points behind league leaders Al-Hilal.
Al-Ahli, on the other hand, are third on the table and are just six points behind their upcoming opponents. Al-Ahli are the in-form team amongst the two sides, having lost just once in the league in their last 12 matches.
How did Al-Nassr superstar Cristiano Ronaldo perform against Al-Ahli last time around?
Al-Nassr and Al-Ahli played out an incredible game last time around where the Knights of Najd registered a narrow 4-3 win. Cristiano Ronaldo netted a brace on that occasion, with Anderson Talisca scoring the other two goals in the game.
Cristiano Ronaldo had a great outing against Al-Ahli back in September 2023. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner had three shots on target and also hit the woodwork once in the game.
Although the former Manchester United forward had only 37 touches in the entire game, he made the most of them. He ended the game with a pass completion rate of 88 percent.
Cristiano Ronaldo, however, did lose possession on six separate occasions but was only caught offside once in the whole game.
Ronaldo is enjoying a great season on a personal level. The Portugal skipper has scored 29 goals and provided 11 assists in 32 games across all competitions.