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Cristiano Ronaldo is expected to start when Al-Nassr travel to take on Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League on Tuesday, December 26. The Knights of Najd will come into the game on the back of a 3-1 win over Al-Ettifaq in the previous league outing.
Ronaldo had a great outing in his last league game on Friday. The five-time Ballon d'Or winner contributed a goal and an assist as he continued with his amazing 2023-24 season in Saudi Arabia. Alex Telles and Marcelo Brozovic were the two other goalscorers for the Knight of Njad on that occasion.
Cristiano Ronaldo did get a break prior to facing Al-Ettifaq on Friday evening. The superstar forward should therefore be fit to start the game against Al-Ittihad on Tuesday.
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As has been the face in the past, the Portuguese could once again be partnered alongside Anderson Talisca and Sadio Mane in attack. Manager Luis Castro does have the likes of Abdulrahman Ghareeb and Mohammed Maran to choose from if he wishes to switch the attack.
It is worth mentioning that Cristiano Ronaldo will come up against his former Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema on Tuesday. The duo played 342 times together for Los Blancos and went on to have 76 joint goal contributions with Benzema assisting Ronaldo 47 times.
Al-Nassr are currently second in the Saudi Pro League, having picked up 40 points from 17 matches. They are 10 points behind league leaders Al-Hilal but do have a game in hand over their Riyadh-based rivals.
Al-Ittihad, on the other hand, recently competed in the FIFA Club World Cup where they lost in the second round to Egyptian side Al-Ahly. They are currently fifth in the league table, having accumulated 28 points from their first 17 games this season.
How did Cristiano Ronaldo perform for Al-Nassr against Al-Ittihad last season?
Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr towards the second half of last season. He did get a chance to face Al-Ittihad twice in that time, one in the Saudi Pro League and another in the Saudi Super Cup.
Ronaldo doesn't have the best record against Al-Ittihad so far as he has suffered defeats on both of those occasions. The first one was a 3-1 defeat in the semifinals of the Saudi Super Cup while the other was a 1-0 loss in the league a couple of months later.
It is also worth mentioning that despite playing a total of 180 minutes against Al-Ittihad, Cristiano Ronaldo has failed to find the back of the net.
He has a great chance to turn the tides against Al-Ittihad on Tuesday due to his current form. The Al-Nassr skipper has contributed 21 goals and 11 assists from 23 games across all competitions so far this season.
