Khaberni - Another letdown for Al Nassr led by its Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo after being eliminated from the Saudi Football Cup competition, but his coach Jorge Jesus hinted that his compatriot is irreplaceable, blaming the loss against Al-Ittihad on Tuesday on fatigue.
After missing the opportunity to win the Saudi Super Cup title at the start of the season against Al-Ahli, Al Nassr was eliminated from the second competition it was contesting this season by falling to Al-Ittihad 1-2 in the round of sixteen, continuing Ronaldo's disappointments in clinching an official local title with the club he moved to at the start of the year 2023.
The vibrant 40-year-old has been shining since the start of the season, scoring 12 goals, but left the Al Awal Park Stadium disappointed in a face-off against his former Real Madrid teammate, Frenchman Karim Benzema, who reposted a picture on Instagram celebrating a goal in front of a phantom Ronaldo.
However, Jesus hinted in the post-match press conference that the captain of his national team is irreplaceable, after being asked about the possibility of making such a decision, similar to what his compatriot Sergio Conceicao does with Benzema.
Jesus said, "Al-Ittihad with Sergio was winning, and their strategy was different. He wanted to introduce a faster striker. Benzema had only a few minutes left to finish the match. That decision is entirely up to Al-Ittihad’s coach."
He continued, "As for Ronaldo, it's completely different. We were losing and needed strikers to play against a defense line consisting of five players. Therefore, it was never logical in terms of how the match was unfolding to replace Ronaldo."
But this option wasn't even considered by Jesus in previous matches, as he relies on Ronaldo in most of their confrontations until the last minutes.
With his national team, Ronaldo was substituted out in three of the four matches he played in the qualifiers for the World Cup 2026, noting that he scored five goals in them.
Jesus attributed the loss to fatigue after returning from a win in Goa in the Asian Champions League 2.
He noted, "I felt that the team today (Tuesday) was a bit heavy, tired. It was the third game especially for Joao Felix. He came back from India feeling sick and was very tired. Today he wasn’t the same player, and in the previous match last week he also wasn’t at his best."
