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Cristiano Ronaldo is not in Al-Nassr's squad to face Al-Ettifaq in their Saudi Pro League opener. Fans on Twitter are reacting to the Portugal captain's absence from facing Steven Gerrard's team.
Al-Nassr are set to kick off their campaign against Ettifaq, managed by Liverpool legend Gerrard. Ex-Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson recently joined the club as well.
Ronaldo's team played Al-Hilal in the final of the Arab Cup of Champions in their previous game. The 38-year-old bagged a brace as Al-Nassr registered a come-from-behind 2-1 win to lift their first trophy of the season.
Ronaldo, however, suffered a knee injury in the extra time of that game and has been forced to sit out the game against Al-Ettifaq as a result.
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Fans on Twitter reacted to Cristiano Ronaldo's absence from Al-Nassr's first SPL game of the season, as one wrote:
"TV off already."
Another claimed:
"Whattt."
One more fan wrote:
"I won’t be watching."
Another opined:
"No Ronaldo no party."
One fan foresaw Al-Nassr losing, writing:
"No Ronaldo, Brozovic or Fofana. An easy win for Gerrard."
Gerard Pique spoke about defending against Cristiano Ronaldo
While Gerard Pique and Cristiano Ronaldo were teammates at Manchester United, they became rivals when the Spaniard joined Barcelona in 2008 and the Portuguese joined Real Madrid in 2009.
Pique and Ronaldo clashed in multiple El Clasicos. The Portuguese, more often than not, managed to hurt Barcelona, and Pique recently spoke about how difficult it was to defend against Ronaldo.
He told Rio Ferdinand's FIVE:
“Because when he came to Madrid, we had to play a lot of games against him. And when you play, I don’t know, 30-40 games against Cristiano, it is impossible to keep him away from scoring goals."
He added:
"Because he will score goals no matter what. You have to try to keep him and try to make sure that he participates as little as possible.”
Ronaldo faced Barcelona 34 times in his career, scoring 20 goals against the Catalan club. He gave fans some memorable celebrations to rejoice after his goals against the Blaugrana.
