The Saudi club presents its 37-year-old player, five times Ballon d’Or winner as the best player in the world, on Tuesday evening at the “Marsoul Park” stadium, after his arrival on Monday with his family and assistants.
The private plane carrying Ronaldo landed on Monday evening in the rain and cold, in preparation for his presentation in an enthusiastic and crazy atmosphere on Tuesday evening.
The main streets of the Saudi capital were adorned with large illuminated billboards with images of Ronaldo in his winning shirt, with the words “Hala Ronaldo”.
Ronaldo has signed a contract with Al-Nassr until June 2025, worth an estimated over €200m, after his Manchester United contract was terminated by mutual consent, following a television interview in which he strongly criticized his club and the Dutch coach Eric Dieci Hach.
Crowds are expected to fill the stands at ‘Marsool Park’, which has a capacity of 25,000, after the club received 130,000 requests for tickets worth 15 riyals ($4). Al-Nasr announced the donation of proceeds from its sale to a national charity platform.
Soon
Before taking off from Madrid to Riyadh on Monday, Al-Nasr posted on his Twitter account a video clip of Ronaldo greeting his new fans, saying in English: “See you soon.”
The most important deal in Saudi Arabia and in the Gulf aroused unprecedented enthusiasm among the fans, who flocked to the club store to print Ronaldo’s name on the team’s yellow and blue shirts. And the team’s jerseys ran out of the shop 24 hours before the Portuguese star was included.
The club’s Instagram account gained millions of followers within hours.
Fans of the club, dubbed “Al-Alamy” in Saudi Arabia, are preparing to sing a special song for Ronaldo and raise their cheers (the slogan drawn by the fans on the catwalk), the Al-Nasr Fans Association reported. .
A Saudi club official said the ‘CR7’ presentation ceremony included a speech by club president, Mosli Al Muammar, followed by a speech by the Portuguese star in front of the crowd and some kicking towards the stands.
Al-Nasr’s team is training on the pitch, but the club official said “it hasn’t yet been decided whether or not Ronaldo will attend the training session.”
Al-Nasr, 9 times league champion, most recently in 2019, considered: “This deal is much more than writing a new historical chapter.”
