For Cristiano Ronaldo, winning a first league title in Saudi Arabia isn’t coming easy.
The Portugal superstar was a matter of seconds away from securing the victory needed to clinch the Saudi Pro League with Al-Nassr on Tuesday, with his team leading fierce rival Al-Hilal 1-0 in the eighth and final minute of stoppage time.
With Ronaldo looking nervous on the bench — the 41-year-old striker had been substituted by that point — and some Al-Nassr fans hardly able to watch, Al-Hilal sent a long throw-in into the area and Al-Nassr goalkeeper Bento, in an attempt to catch the ball, fumbled it backward and into his own net.
The match finished 1-1, the title race was still alive and Ronaldo looked distraught as he sat in the dugout, consoled by teammates.
“The dream is close,” Ronaldo wrote in a post to his more than 100 million followers on X after the match. “Heads up, we have one more step to take!”
Al-Nassr hasn’t won the Saudi league since 2019, more than three years before Ronaldo joined the club in a game-changing signing for the country as it looked to become a major player in world soccer.
That drought is still likely to end, despite the derby drama on Tuesday.
Al-Nassr leads Al-Hilal by five points and will guarantee winning the league by beating relegation-threatened Damac at home in the final round on May 21.
Al-Hilal has two games remaining, the first against Neom on Saturday. Win that and the second-place team will be two points behind Al-Nassr heading into the final round.
By then, Ronaldo — the five-time world player of the year — might have won his first major trophy with Al-Nassr, which faces Japan’s Gamba Osaka in the Champions League Two final in Riyadh on Sunday.
After the club season finishes, Ronaldo will head to a sixth World Cup with Portugal — and is free to play in the team’s first game after FIFA, in a rare move, deferred two games of a three-match ban for his red card in a qualifying game. He has said this will definitely be his last attempt at winning the biggest prize in soccer, but it remains unclear for how long he will continue playing.
Ronaldo still has one more year remaining on his deal with Al-Nassr and is closing in on 1,000 career goals.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
