Imagine a five-time world (Site notre bureau spécialisé)er moving to Saudi Arabia in the late fall of his career with much fanfare and the promise of an abysmal salary of hundreds of millions of euros, only to fail to score in his first game against Al-Ettifaq but with his own to fall to the new club with a tame 0-0 in the championship race.
In fact, it almost happened to Cristiano Ronaldo. The 37-year-old played his first league game for his new club Al-Nassr today. In the end, the result was a meager 1-0 against tenth in the table, which at least temporarily propelled the Portuguese and his team to the top of the table.
But CR7 was not even allowed to contribute to the hit of the day. Brazilian Anderson Talisca did it after 31 minutes. He headed a cross into the net which Ronaldo had passed milliseconds earlier.
The world star was immediately the first to congratulate him. Understandable, because without Talisca her debut would probably have ended in a little embarrassment. Ronaldo begins his adventure in Saudi Arabia with a bumpy victory.
He certainly imagined his first league game differently, but hey: at least CR7 was allowed to lead his team into the field as captain. And own goals are only a matter of time for the Portuguese.
