Ronaldo wants to win every title next season with Al Nassr
"We hope to win every title," Ronaldo said when traveling to Japan on July 23. "We know it will be difficult, but we have a good team, a new manager and new players."
According to Ronaldo, Al Nassr's ambition is unchanged from last season. But he expects determination, motivation as well as changes in personnel. "Let's see what happens," the former Real and Man Utd star added.
Ronaldo joined Al Nassr in January 2023. He scored 14 goals in the last 19 games of the 2022-2023 season, but failed to win the title. Al Nassr only finished second in the Saudi Pro League, losing in the semi-finals of the King Cup and the Saudi Super Cup.
After last season's defeat, Al Nassr signed Ronaldo's countryman coach Luis Castro from Botafogo club. The Saudi Pro League runners-up also recruited midfielder Marcelo Brozovic from Inter, Seko Fofana from Lens, defender Alex Telles from Man Utd, and are pursuing striker Sadio Mane from Bayern.
In the series of summer friendlies, Al Nassr won against Alverca 2-0, Farense 5-1 but lost to Celta Vigo 1-5 and Benfica 1-4. Ronaldo didn't score any goals. On July 25 and 27, Al Nassr will play friendly matches in Japan with PSG and Inter respectively.
In the 2023-2024 season, Ronaldo and his teammates will play five tournaments. They started the Saudi Pro League in mid-August, before participating in the King Cup, Saudi Super Cup, Arab Club Champions Cup and AFC Champions League play-offs.
Ronaldo moved to Al Nassr after liquidating his contract with Man Utd in November 2022. In a recent interview, CR7 said that the door for him to return to Europe was closed. The 38-year-old striker confirmed that the quality of European football leagues is going down, except for the English Premier League.
Ronaldo also believes that his move to Al Nassr has paved the way for other players to go to Saudi Arabia. This summer, Karim Benzema and N'Golo Kante joined Al Ittihad, Kalidou Koulibaly, Ruben Neves and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic joined Al Hilal, while Edouard Mendy and Roberto Firmino signed Al Ahli. According to Ronaldo, the Saudi Pro League is better than the MLS, which Lionel Messi is about to play with the new club Inter Miami.
