Ronaldo Must Go!’ — Al Nassr Legend Al-Harifi Demands Superstar’s Expulsion

Al-Nassr legend Fahad Al-Harifi has criticised Cristiano Ronaldo and called for the Portuguese forward to be expelled from the Saudi Pro League club following their heavy 4-0 defeat to Al-Ain in the AFC Champions League Elite on Tuesday.

Al-Nassr struggled throughout the encounter, with Al-Ain dominating proceedings and securing a convincing victory on home soil.

Soufiane Rahimi opened the scoring in the 25th minute after capitalising on an error by Saad Al-Nasser. The forward doubled his side’s advantage in the 63rd minute before completing his hat-trick nine minutes later.

Georgios Giakoumakis added Al-Ain’s fourth goal in the 85th minute to seal all three points for the home team.

Ronaldo was unable to make a significant impact during the match, recording one shot on target from five attempts.

Speaking on the Our League is Different programme after the defeat, Al-Harifi questioned Ronaldo’s contribution to Al-Nassr, claiming that the former Real Madrid and Manchester United star had failed to provide sufficient sporting or commercial value to the club.

“Ronaldo has not added anything to Al-Nassr. His presence is not important to the club, and he must be expelled,” Al-Harifi said, according to reports.

He further argued that Ronaldo had not helped the club secure major trophies and questioned the justification for the substantial financial investment in the player.

“Ronaldo did not bring major championships to Al-Nassr, and even from a marketing perspective, the club did not benefit from him,” he added.

Al-Harifi also maintained that the interests of the club should take priority over those of individual players. He cited Al-Hilal’s decision to part ways with Karim Benzema as an example of how clubs should respond when a player is deemed not to be delivering the expected value.

“Al-Nassr supersedes Ronaldo, and we witnessed how Al-Hilal handled Benzema—they chose to part ways when they determined the player failed to deliver the necessary value, and we must adopt an identical approach with the Portuguese player,” he said.

Since joining Al-Nassr in January 2023, Ronaldo has reportedly recorded 126 goals and 24 assists in 149 appearances across all competitions. He also helped the club win the Saudi Pro League title in the previous season.