05/13/26 09:55:00
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05/13 04:18 CDT Cristiano Ronaldo enters sixth World Cup looking to show he can
still thrive despite Saudi move
Cristiano Ronaldo enters sixth World Cup looking to show he can still thrive
despite Saudi move
By TALES AZZONI
AP Sports Writer
MADRID (AP) --- Cristiano Ronaldo's sixth and likely final World Cup will be
the first for the Portugal great since he left Europe to play in Saudi Arabia.
The surprise move in late 2022 shocked many in the soccer world and prompted
widespread doubts about whether his form would be affected by facing
lower-level competition.
But Ronaldo, who turned 41 in February, has dismissed any notion of a drop in
performance going into next month's showcase event. And, to help make his case,
the goals have kept coming, both for Al Nassr and with Portugal.
Portugal coach Roberto Martnez said Ronaldo is as hungry as ever and doesn't
see any signs that the star forward has slowed down after moving to Saudi
Arabia.
"He keeps performing and he keeps showing his value and he keeps showing that
(he) is important for the national team," Martnez said. "To have that hunger
when you've won everything in the game is quite remarkable. And that's without
getting away from the fact that to be in the national team you need to be
somebody that can help the team now and not with what you've done in the past."
Ronaldo and his longtime rival Lionel Messi are set to reach the milestone of
playing in six World Cups. Ronaldo is the all-time leader in appearances (226)
and goals (143) for a men's national team. He is also the only man to have
scored in five World Cups.
"Even though he's the captain, even though probably he's achieved what no other
player in world football has achieved, which is the number of games for the
national team, over 225 appearances, just with that number is a uniqueness
about what he brings, but I think he has the same demands as any other player
in the national team," Martnez said.
Ronaldo made the move to Saudi Arabia in the middle of the 2022-23 season after
his latest stint with Manchester United, rejecting other offers to take up a
reported salary of $200 million a year and "give a different vision of this
country and football." Ronaldo said at the time his work in Europe was done and
he was ready for a "new challenge."
Criticism immediately began to pour in, with many fans and pundits not liking
what appeared to be his choice of taking the big Saudi money instead of
continuing his career in elite soccer. Some said he was virtually retiring from
competitive soccer.
Ronaldo has constantly praised the Saudi league, though, saying it's better
than both the French and the Portuguese leagues. He said those who criticize
him should go there and try to compete in temperatures of up to 40 degrees
Celsius (104 F) and keep performing like he has.
"I don't need to speak because they can say whatever they want, but the numbers
don't lie," Ronaldo said in an interview with Piers Morgan last year. "They've
never been here, they've never played here ... For me it's (easier) to score in
Spain than score in Saudi (league)."
Ronaldo's move away from Europe did not appear to affect his performances on
the international stage with Portugal. He has kept playing at a high level
since then, scoring 25 goals in his last 30 games with the national team.
Ronaldo went scoreless in five European Championship games in 2024 as Portugal
reached the quarterfinals. In 2025, about two and a half years after he started
playing in Saudi Arabia, Ronaldo helped Portugal win the Nations League title,
with one of his eight goals in the competition coming in the final against
Spain.
Ronaldo has maintained a top-notch physical condition despite just having
turned 41. He was hindered by a hamstring injury sustained in late February but
recovered quickly. On May 7, he was scoring his 100th Saudi Pro League goal in
his 105th league appearances for Al Nassr, which has a chance to win its first
league title since 2019.
"All the efforts (Cristiano) makes and what he does on the pitch, which he has
experienced more than all of us together, which he puts in every day and every
game, is unique," Joao Flix, Ronaldo's teammate with both Al Nassr and
Portugal, told the Saudi Pro League earlier this year. "And that we see him, at
40 years old, doing what he does, only gives us more motivation."
Ronaldo scored 14 goals in 16 matches in his debut season in Saudi Arabia in
2022-23. In his first full season, he netted 35 goals in 31 games, setting a
new scoring record in the league. Al Nassr won its first Arab Club Champions
Cup in 2023 thanks to a pair of goals by Ronaldo in the final.
In the 2024-25 season, Ronaldo scored 25 goals in 30 matches, and so far this
season he has found the net 26 times in 29 appearances. He was the league's top
scorer in both of his first two full seasons, and now is five goals shy of Al
Ahli's Ivan Toney.
Ronaldo has said this will definitely be his last attempt at winning the World
Cup, but it remains unclear for how long he will continue playing.
His coach with Portugal knows better not to make any guesses.
"It's difficult for me to say, because obviously I've learned very quickly not
to predict the future with Cristiano, just because he's got this elite brain
about being the best that he can be today," Martnez said. "And I'm thinking if
you ask him, he'll tell you the same. He doesn't make plans."
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