Cristiano Ronaldo suffered his heaviest loss since joining Al Nassr as the Saudi Arabian champion kicked off its Asian Champions League Elite campaign with a 4-0 defeat to Al Ain of the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.
Al Nassr has never won the tournament and was behind after 25 minutes as Houssine Rahimi opened the scoring. The Moroccan forward doubled the lead for the two-time winner just after the hour mark.
Soufiane Rahimi, Houssine’s brother, added a third with 18 minutes remaining and then set up Georgios Giakoumakis for the fourth.
The 41-year-old Ronaldo, looking for career goal No. 980, had a free kick late in the game but it was saved by goalkeeper Khalid Eisa.
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It was the biggest defeat Ronaldo has been involved in since he was part of the Manchester United team beaten 4-0 by Brentford in August 2022.
“The players gave everything they had, and I do not place any responsibility on them … and the responsibility is my responsibility,” Al Nassr coach Ange Postecoglou said. “Al Nassr as a whole was poor.”
The result leaves the Saudi Pro League champion with one win in its last four matches.
It was a mixed opening round for the five Saudi clubs.
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Four-time champion Al Hilal beat Qatar’s Al Gharafa 2-1. Rúben Neves converted a penalty late in the first half after both teams had been reduced to ten men. Sergej Milinkovic-Savic sealed the win in the second half.
Al Ahli and Al Ittihad were held to 1-1 draws by Pakhtakor of Uzbekistan and Qatar’s Al Shamal, respectively, while Al Qadsiah began with a 2-1 win over UAE’s Al Wasl.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
