Latest news with #Al-Orobah
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The goals kept coming but no title – so what now for Cristiano Ronaldo?
For a social media post described around the world as 'cryptic', it doesn't seem all that hard to decipher. Minutes after Al-Nassr's last game of a disappointing season ended in defeat on Monday, Cristiano Ronaldo – who had previously said that he was happy to finish his career in Saudi Arabia – posted on social media. 'This chapter is over. The story? Still being written. Grateful to all.' The biggest star in the Saudi Pro League (SPL) looks to be on his way out of Riyadh after two and a half years of personal milestones but no major trophy with Al-Nassr. With the Yellows no closer to a first title since 2019 than when he joined in December 2022 and no place in Asia's Champions League next season, the 40-year-old may not, as the club had long expected, extend his contract – which ends on 30 June – for another year. Advertisement Related: Melbourne City Women suffer penalty agony in Asian Champions League final The season was similar to the one before for captain and club but not quite as good. Al-Nassr finished third, one place lower and 12 points fewer than last season. Ronaldo finished as top scorer with 25, 10 fewer than his record haul of 35 from the previous campaign. There were some spectacular strikes, some trademark headers and eight penalties. All in all, 99 goals in 111 games for Al-Nassr in all competitions is impressive. The club would have been even worse off had they not been handed three extra points on Monday morning. Just hours before the final round of games kicked off, Al-Nassr won their appeal to overturn a 2-1 loss at lowly Al-Orobah in February. The Al-Orobah goalkeeper Rafi al-Ruwaili was, the claim went, ineligible as he was not a full-time professional (in contravention of the league's rules) and instead worked for the government. That decision meant that, going into the final game, there was still a chance of Al-Nassr finishing second and taking the last Champions League spot from Al-Hilal, whose midfielder Rúben Neves said it was all a disgrace. Al-Nassr lost anyway but, thanks to their successful appeal, did manage to squeeze into the Champions League Two, Asia's second-tier tournament. It could be that Ronaldo did not fancy playing in what is a low-key affair, though his presence would have changed that to some extent. Advertisement It is not the only tournament that would like a bit of the stardust provided by the most followed person on Instagram. There is talk of the five-time Ballon d'Or winner being loaned to one of the 32 teams in the Fifa Club World Cup that kicks off on 14 June. The Fifa president, Gianni Infantino, said as much last week to the online streamer IShowSpeed. 'There are discussions with some clubs, so if any club is watching and is interested in hiring Ronaldo for the Club World Cup … who knows, who knows?' Those comments understandably went down badly with Ronaldo's current employers. Their Riyadh rivals Al-Hilal are one of the reported interested parties. For Al-Nassr fans the idea of their biggest star in the shirt of their biggest rivals may be unbearable but the two clubs have, after all, the same Public Investment Fund (PIF) owner and, after losing Neymar, Al-Hilal want a big star for the tournament. Off the pitch there are none bigger but on it Ronaldo was unable to lift a misfiring team to the next level. Al-Nassr produced in moments but struggled for fluency and consistency. It was not a surprise when Luis Castro was fired early in the season and the former Serie A winner Stefano Pioli came in and had similar issues. On Monday, Sadio Mané admitted that it had been a poor season but also put some of the responsibility on the fans for not coming out in big numbers consistently. The former Liverpool man may have been thinking of Al-Ittihad's support, which averaged almost 40,000, more than double Al-Nassr's. Such energy may have helped the Jeddah team win a 10th title. Laurent Blanc arrived to bring some calm after last season when the Tigers had fired Nuno Espírito Santo and then brought in Marcelo Gallardo from River Plate for a short-lived spell. Advertisement Karim Benzema had fewer injury problems this time around, scoring 21 with none coming from the penalty spot. Moussa Diaby excelled in his first season after arriving from Aston Villa and ended sharing top spot in the assist charts with Salem al-Dawsari of Al-Hilal. Steven Bergwijn impressed as did N'Golo Kanté in midfield. Last year Al-Hilal stormed to the title on the back of a world record 34-game winning streak but were less impressive this time round, finishing second and also crashing out of the Champions League at the semi-final stage. By that time, the coach, Jorge Jesus, had seemed to lose control of his players and the Portuguese left before the end of the season. Al-Ahli, led by Riyad Mahrez and the increasingly prolific Ivan Toney – who ended on 23 goals, second only to Ronaldo and enough for an England recall – were satisfied with a first Asian title. And that is the PIF-owned Big Four but perhaps there are more now. Al-Qadsiah, backed by the oil giant Aramco and led by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, finished fourth (and would have ended a place higher without Nassr's late appeal) and look to be here to stay, Next season, the newly promoted Neom SC will be there too. The end of season headlines, however, belong to Ronaldo. Since he arrived in Saudi Arabia, it has been that way, which was always part of the plan. Now the focus is on what happens next.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
😳 'This chapter is over', posts CR7 after Al-Nassr disappointment
😳 'This chapter is over', posts CR7 after Al-Nassr disappointment This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here. At 40 years old, Cristiano Ronaldo has left doubts about his stay at Al-Nassr after his current team was effectively eliminated from the next Asian Champions League. Advertisement "This chapter is over. The story? Still being written. Grateful to all", wrote the Portuguese number 7 after the defeat to Al-Fateh on Monday (26). Reversal and... FRUSTRATION Al-Nassr would only play to fulfill the schedule in the last round of the Saudi League. But returned to the fight before the final round after the Disciplinary Committee of the league penalized Al-Orobah for the irregular lineup of goalkeeper Rafi Al Ruawaili in the 2-1 victory over Al-Nassr in the 23rd round. The decision resulted in the early relegation of Al-Orobah, which lost the three points and saw them transferred to CR7 & Co. Advertisement Al-Nassr needed a win over Al-Fateh and hoped for a slip-up by Al-Hilal against Al-Qadisiya. Beyond not doing their part, they saw Mitrovic and Milinkovic-Savic secure the 2-0 win over the team of Aubameyang who only thinks about the King's Cup decision against Al-Ittihad. Al-Ittihad, who was already the champion, closed the Saudi Pro League with 83 points. The second spot for the Champions League went to Al-Hilal, who was the runner-up with 75. CR7, Mané, and Bento's team scored 70. There would be three spots for the Champions League via Saudi Arabia, but one went to Al-Ahli, who won this year's edition and finished the league in fifth place. Will he stay at Al-Nassr? Cristiano Ronaldo has a contract only until June 30. Advertisement The renewal was already seen as almost certain, but has become a doubt in several newspapers. The certainty is that Fifa wants to have the star in the Club World Cup. The president of the entity spoke about a possible negotiation involving the Portuguese star. Many goals and... a single trophy Cristiano Ronaldo arrived at Al-Nassr in January 2023 after a turbulent passage to Manchester United. He has 99 goals and 19 assists in 111 games. He celebrated a single title: the Arab Champions Cup, which has less weight, still in 2023. He was the top scorer in the last edition of the Saudi League - the first complete one he played - with 35 goals. Advertisement And won the same position in 2024/2025, scoring 25 times. He has 936 goals in his career in his race for the thousandth. 📸 Yasser Bakhsh - 2025 Getty Images
Saudi Gazette
28-02-2025
- Sport
- Saudi Gazette
Al-Somah leads Al-Orobah to upset win over Al-Nassr
Saudi Gazette report ALJOUF — Omar Al-Somah continued his fine form, finding the net at the end of the first half to set Al-Orobah on course for a 2-1 victory over Al-Nassr. The Saudi Pro League's all-time leading scorer opened the scoring in the 40th minute, giving the hosts a first-half advantage. Six minutes after the restart, Nawaf Boushal equalized for Al-Nassr, but Johan Gudmundsson secured the win for Al-Orobah with a crucial second goal. With this result, Al-Orobah climbs to 26 points, sitting in 11th place, while Al-Nassr remains in third place with 47 points. Meanwhile, in another match played at the same time, Al-Shabab secured a 2-0 victory over Damac with second-half goals from Cristian Guanca and Mohammed Al-Shuwairkh. The win lifts Al-Shabab to sixth place with 39 points, while Damac stays in 13th place with 24 points.
Yahoo
24-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Moroccan stuns with incredible free-kick in Saudi Pro League
Mourad Batna secured three points for Al-Fateh with a brilliant free-kick in their 1-0 win over Al-Orobah in the 2024-25 Saudi Pro League.
Arab News
19-02-2025
- Sport
- Arab News
Arab icons Al-Somah and Hamdallah fight for SPL's all-time top scorer accolade
AUSTRALIA: While there will naturally be a lot of focus on the see-sawing title battle between heavyweights Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal, there is another heavyweight battle looming over the final months of the Saudi Pro League season. This one involves two of the league's greatest players, and two greats of Arab football, battling for the ultimate personal accolade — the title of the league's all-time leading goal scorer. For the last few years, that mantle has sat with Syria's Omar Al-Somah — now at Al-Orobah — who assumed it from Nasser Al-Shamrani, with 144 goals during his eight-year stint with Al-Ahli. But looming ever larger in recent months has been Morocco's Abderrazak Hamdallah, now onto his third club with Al-Shabab. Before the season, he trailed his Syrian counterpart by 15 goals and made it known he had Al-Somah's record in his sights. 'I'm very happy with what I've done so far,' he said on MBC's popular 'Action with Waleed' show in September. 'Of course, I'd be a lot happier if I continue to work hard, add value to my club Al-Shabab first, and why not break the record. It's a major record and a significant number of goals, and Omar Al-Somah deserves praise for raising the bar so high. 'It's not an easy record to break, but I'll take it one game at a time, first to help Al-Shabab, then for my personal ambitions. I will enjoy the journey, and if it's meant to be, it will happen.' While their exploits may have been overshadowed in recent years by the arrival of a bevy of world-class talent, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, their battle offers a timely reminder of the world that existed before the Ronaldo-led transformation of the league. Between the pair, they have won six of the last 10 Golden Boot awards and have the incredible record of each scoring double digits in every season in which they have played in the Kingdom. Either is worthy of the mantle, and now, after a surprise January move, they will duke it out head-to-head for the title. Al-Somah, perhaps with a sense of inevitability watching Hamdallah bang in the goals for Al-Shabab and loom in on his record, made a surprise return to the SPL with relegation-threatened Al-Orobah after three years spent in Qatar. Despite his denials, suggesting he was content regardless, no doubt the Syrian was swayed just a little by trying to keep his record intact, even admitting doing so will 'motivate' him for the rest of the season. Players will deny it — it's a team sport, after all — but these personal accolades do mean something and it's only natural for a player to want to 'protect his patch.' Upon his return, Al-Somah said: 'I'm thrilled to return to the Saudi League. I spent eight or nine years with Al-Ahli in one city, now it's different. 'I have said this before, if God wills it, I'll succeed in extending the record. If not, I'll accept it. Whatever comes from God, I'll be content with it. Whoever it is — Abderrazak or anybody else — all players here are stars. 'The number speaks for itself. I'll do my best on the field. If I score more, it's God's will. This will motivate me, but I'm already satisfied with my career. 'I've had great years in the Saudi League with Al-Ahli. I've won championships. That's enough for me, regardless of being the all-time top scorer in the Saudi League.' Ever since he arrived back in the Kingdom, the two have been trading blows — in the metaphorical sense. In his first two games in his new colors, Al-Somah drew blanks as Al-Orobah failed to find the net in a 0-0 draw with Al-Taawoun and a 2-0 loss to Al-Ahli. At the same time, Hamdallah bagged another three goals with a brace against Al-Fayha and a solitary goal against Ettifaq to close in on the record even further. By the time Round 19 came around, the margin had been closed to just six goals, and Hamdallah piled the pressure on with a stunning hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Al-Khaleej to get within touching distance. But just 24 hours later, Al-Somah responded in fine style with a brace of his own, showing class is indeed permanent, in a 4-2 win over the struggling Al-Wehda to slightly ease the gap back out to five. On the weekend just gone, Hamdallah, who once again played a day before Al-Somah, drew a blank, for the first time in four games, as Al-Shabab suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat to heavy-hitters Al-Qadsiah. The Syrian capitalized, and in a 2-0 win for Al-Orobah over Al-Okhdood, managed to find the net again to make it three goals in two games and get the margin back out to six goals — 147 to 141. The battle for supremacy has become part of the weekly narrative surrounding the league and the players, fully aware of what is at stake, will be feeling the pressure. All eyes, therefore, are on the clash between Al-Shabab and Al-Orobah on March 14. To continue the boxing analogies, at the moment they are simply shadow boxing, as they take it in turns to get one over their rival. But in that game, the two heavyweights will come together for the first time in almost exactly three years. Their last individual clash came on March 12, 2021, when Hamdallah scored the winner in a 2-1 win for Al-Nassr over Al-Ahli. Al-Somah scored the solitary goal for Al-Ahli. Overall, the ledger stands at 4-3 in favor of Al-Somah. With all eyes on Al-Shabab Club Stadium next month, can either land the knockout blow?
