Rudi Garcia, the manager of Al Nassr, has blamed Cristiano Ronaldo in part for his team’s Saudi Super Cup semi-final loss.
When Al-Nassr lost 3-1 against Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Super Cup, manager Rudi Garcia criticized Cristiano Ronaldo for wasting a chance to score.
Close rivals Al-Ittihad eliminated Garcia’s league leaders from the competition on Thursday, while new captain and signing Ronaldo blanked once more after his scoreless start last Sunday.
On his second appearance, the 37-year-old megastar displayed a similar lack of energy and squandered a chance to score in the first half that Garcia believed would have changed the outcome of the match in Alfreton’s favor.
Nassr’s Following the 3-1 defeat at the King Fahd International Stadium, the French manager told reporters that one of the factors that altered the outcome of the game was Cristiano’s missed opportunity in the first half.
Al-Ittihad had taken the lead after only 15 minutes. Ronaldo and company now have one fewer chance to win a trophy this season, although they still have another competition to finish in March.
In the King’s Cup, Al-Nassr will play Abha, a mid-table team, and they are hoping to do better than they did on Thursday.
“I commend Al-Ittihad. We played well in the second half after they played a lot better in the first half than we did, but we were unable to change the outcome. Although we are still in first place in the league, we do lament losing the Super Cup.”
The fact that Ronaldo hobbled off injured towards the conclusion of the game after taking a heavy tackle from Al-Ittihad replacement player Hamdan Al-Shamrani worries the former Roma and Marseille boss more.
After the final whistle, the five-time Ballon d’Or winner staggered off after appearing to roll his right ankle during the hard challenge.
Ronaldo’s controversial transfer from Manchester United to the Middle East isn’t going as planned so far; he hasn’t scored for Al Nassr since signing a lucrative two-and-a-half-year contract worth £173 million annually with the Saudi Arabian club.
The Portuguese veteran is expected to start scoring goals in the Saudi Pro League, according to one of his competitors. “The legendary Ronaldo. He is the finest, in my opinion, and the GOAT,” Odion Ighalo, a former United striker who currently competes for Al Hilal, told Oma Sports TV.
“I have too much admiration and respect for him.” Then, Ighalo, who played alongside Ronaldo against Paris Saint-Germain in an All-Star friendly last Thursday, stated his wish to appear on stage with his hero.
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