Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo continues his mission as the best ambassador for Saudi football by leading his team, Al-Nasr, on a friendly tour in Japan, where they will face Tuesday in Osaka with French champions Paris Saint-Germain.
Ronaldo commented on the Japanese tour by saying, “We know that people are very enthusiastic about football in Japan, and we are here to contribute to the show,” adding, “We have two big matches to play,” referring to his team’s other match Thursday against Inter, the Italian runners-up in the European Champions League.
With a smile on his face and speaking in English at the press conference held by the five-time Ballon d’Or winner in an Osaka hotel on Sunday, the Portuguese played his role as ambassador and dealt with care and kindness with the questions of the children invited to ask questions of the players.
Certainly, the role of the ambassador fits perfectly with the former star of Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus, as, since his resounding transfer last January, he was the best promoter of the Saudi League until it came to persuading many big stars to join him.
Ronaldo’s arrival in the Saudi League opened the door to stars such as his former colleague in Real, French striker Karim Benzema, by joining Al-Ittihad Jeddah, accompanied by his compatriot N’Golo Kante, or Senegalese Khalido Coulibaly and Serbian Sergey Milinkovic Savic, by wearing the Al-Hilal shirt, or the other Senegalese, Edouard Mendy, by defending Al-Ahly’s goal alongside Brazilian striker Roberto Firmino.
Coinciding with the rush of his rivals to contract with big stars in resounding deals, Al-Nasr decided to strengthen its ranks and secure the appropriate support for Ronaldo, including the Croatian Marcelo Brozovic and the Ivorian Siko Fofana.
Back in the national team
In an interview with the Saudi League website, Ronaldo said, “I am happy here, and I want to continue here, and I will continue here (with victory). The Saudi League is strong, but there are many opportunities for growth. The league is competitive and we have good teams, as well as the Arab players, and I think the infrastructure needs improvement (in the league), even the referees, and the video assistant referee should be a bit faster.”
And the 38-year-old continued, “In my opinion, if (those in charge of the league) continue to work on their plan in the next five years, I believe that the Saudi League will become among the 5 most powerful leagues in the world.”
Since his arrival in a deal estimated at more than 200 million euros annually, according to reports, the number of Al-Nasr club followers on Twitter has increased from 800 thousand to 4 million and on Instagram from two million to more than 14 million followers.
Thanks to his popularity, we started seeing female fans in the stands after they were banned from attending matches a few years ago.
Ronaldo came out empty-handed with Al-Nassr in his first season, despite his 14 goals in 16 matches, including a quadruple in his second match only (against Al-Wehda).
He commented on this matter by saying to the Saudi League website, “My expectations were somewhat different. Frankly, I expected that we would win one of the titles this year, but things do not always go as we would like. Sometimes, we need patience, continuity and perseverance to achieve the best, and we will improve a lot.”
He added, “In the last 5 or 6 months, the team has improved a lot, and the league has also improved and all the teams. It sometimes takes time, but if you believe in your goal, everything is possible, in my opinion. I am very optimistic and confident that things will change and go for the better, so we have to believe and work on that.”
Although some considered that Ronaldo’s move to the Saudi League means the end of his career with the national team, the new coach of Spanish “Seleção Europe”, Roberto Martinez, decided to rely on him mainly, so that “CR7” would continue the hobby of breaking records.
In his 200th international match, Ronaldo scored the winning goal against Iceland (1-0) in the 2024 European Cup qualifiers, raising his tally to 123 goals for his country.
“Win some titles”
He said after the victory in Reykjavik, “I will never stop coming here (Portugal national team), because it has always been my dream. Reaching 200 caps is not something anyone achieves. It shows the love I have for my country and our team.”
For the next season for Ronaldo and his team Al-Nassr, there are “a lot of goals. Of course I would like to win some titles this year.”
Two days after the Inter confrontation, Al-Nassr begins its season in the Arab Cup for Champion Clubs against its Saudi neighbour, Al-Shabab.
In anticipation of that, Ronaldo continues to take care of his image, strengthening his status with the public when a Japanese journalist reminded him of an anecdote from one of his previous tours in the Land of the Rising Sun, where he is visiting for the fifth time, when he was defending the colors of Real Madrid in 2014.
At that time, a young Japanese player named Ryoto Iwaoka asked him a question in Portuguese, which caused a wave of laughter in the hall due to his lack of mastery of the language.
Ronaldo replied to those present by saying, “Why are you laughing? Why? He speaks Portuguese well! You should be happy because he made a great effort!”
The effort made by this young man was not limited to trying to speak Portuguese, but he was named the best player in Japan’s most prestigious under-18 tournament.
Ronaldo spoke about what Iwaoka had achieved by saying, “I am very happy that this boy achieved what he wanted, as I always say: believe in your dreams because talent is not enough, you have to work.”
He concluded, “I am very happy that my words had an impact on this boy, and I hope that many children will succeed.”
2023-07-24 10:27:57
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