Cristiano Ronaldo scores two free kicks and scores his second hat-trick in a row | Saudi football

Cristiano Ronaldo can’t get enough. Days after a hat trick, what does Portuguese do? Another hat trick. Still in the first half. Al-Nassr scored 8-0 and massacred Abha this Tuesday, in the Saudi Championship, with a show from the Portuguese star in just 45 minutes. The number 7 scored three goals again, two of them from free kicks. (watch below).

Cristiano scored the first free kick 11 minutes into the first half. From the half-moon, he released the low bomb, and the goalkeeper accepted it. His second goal of the game, the second from a free kick, came exactly 10 minutes later. And with a particularity: the star tells himself, before the kick, that he would score the goal (watch below).

Cristiano now has 62 free kicks in his career – Messi has 65. It was the fourth time that the 39-year-old star scored two free kicks in the same match. Previously, he had scored against Stoke City, FC Zurich and the last against Villarreal, for Real Madrid, in May 2011.

After his two free kick goals, CR7 would score the third and also provide two assists. At 32, he prevented the ball from leaving on the left and passed the ball backwards, for Mané to complete the goal. Shortly after, at 41, Ronaldo scored a great goal: he received it on the left and finished through coverage to cover the goalkeeper.

Cristiano’s show ended when he received the ball inside the box on the left, dominated and passed Al-Sulaiheem to score Al-Nassr’s fifth. With 5-0 in the first half, Luís Castro made a point of giving his captain a few minutes of rest. Ronaldo and Mané were replaced, but the team continued the massacre.

In the second stage, which is still ongoing, Ghareeb and Al-Aliwa, twice, extended the score for Al-Nassr away from home: 8-0 was the final score.

Cristiano Ronaldo now has 885 career goals. He reached his 65th hat-trick — Messi has 57. The number 7 reached 42 goals in 42 matches for club and country in 2023/34. CR7 now has 29 in the Saudi Championship and is the tournament’s top scorer, with seven more than Al-Hilal’s Mitrovic. The Portuguese is chasing a record in this race: being the first player in history to be the top scorer in four different leagues.

Cristiano was top scorer in the Premier League in 2007/08, for Manchester United, in La Liga in 2010/11, 2013/14 and 2014/15, with Real Madrid, and in Serie A, in Italy, in 2020/21, with the Juventus.

Al-Nassr is second in the Saudi Championship, with 62 points, 12 less than leader Al-Hilal. The team returns to the field this Friday, at 4pm, against Damac.