Last Updated: February 10, 2023, 07:05 IST
Cristiano Ronaldo scored fou rgoals for Al Nassr (Twitter)
Cristiano Ronaldo scored four goals for Al Nassr in the Saudi Pro League to reach the career milestone of 500 club goals
Cristiano Ronaldo scored all of Al Nassr’s goals in a 4-0 rout of Al Wehda in the Saudi Pro League on Thursday as he passed the 500 league goal mark in his club career.
The 38-year-old Portuguese star now has 503 goals scored for five different teams stretched across five leagues.
He bagged 103 for Manchester United, 311 for Real Madrid, 81 for Juventus, three for Sporting Lisbon, and now has five for Al Nassr.
Ronaldo now has five for Al Nassr who he joined after the World Cup following his bitter divorce from United.
On Thursday, he hit the 500 mark in the 21st minute with a left-footed strike.
He made it 2-0 with his right foot just before the interval before his hat-trick arrived from the penalty spot eight minutes into the second half.
It was his 61st career hat trick.
He added a fourth just after the hour mark when he was first to a rebound.
“Great feeling to have scored 4 goals and reaching my 500th league goal in a very solid win by the team,” Ronaldo posted on social media after the win.
Ronaldo had opened his account for his new employers last Friday with a stoppage-time penalty in a 2-2 away draw against Al Fateh.
The five-times Ballon D’Or winner signed a 2-1/2 year deal with Al Nassr in December, reported to be worth over 200 million euros ($216.54 million), and was appointed captain of the team.
Al Nassr top the standings after 16 games, level on 37 points with second-placed Al Shabab.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner, who holds the all-time records for Champions League and international goals, is banking more than 400 million euros for his surprise move to Saudi, according to sources close to Al Nassr.
The giant sum includes 200 million euros for promoting Saudi Arabia’s expected joint bid to host the 2030 World Cup, the sources told AFP.
Ronaldo has become a figurehead for the conservative kingdom’s push to improve its reputation through sports — a process that has drawn accusations of “sportswashing”, or trying to sanitise its human rights record.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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