Cristiano Ronaldo has yet to kick a ball for Al-Nassr this season. He watched from the stands as they opened their Saudi Pro League title defence with a 3-0 win over Al-Fateh, then sat out the 4-1 King’s Cup victory over Diriyah on Tuesday.
The rest leaves the 41-year-old on 976 career goals for club and country. He needs 24 more to become the first footballer to reach 1,000 in officially recognised competitive matches.
The number has never mattered more, because Ronaldo has put a public timer on his career.
“This is probably my last year of football, and I want to leave a spectacular legacy,” he told Vogue in an interview published on 16 August.
His Al-Nassr contract expires in June 2027. He told the magazine he has “so many things” planned for afterwards, and referred to “25 years with a lot of sacrifice”.
Postecoglou inherits the countdown
Ange Postecoglou was appointed on a two-year deal on 3 July, succeeding Jorge Jesus after last season’s title. Two matches in, he has six points and a place in the King’s Cup last 16 without needing his forward.
Postecoglou spoke about Ronaldo’s absence from the opener.
“Cristiano is here today, and he is always present with us. The most important thing now is recovery,” he said.
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Al-Nassr will also contest the Saudi Super Cup, with semi-finals on 30 November and 1 December and the final three days later.
The summer added three
Ronaldo scored three at the World Cup. His 5th-minute opener against Uzbekistan on 23 June made him the first player to score at six separate World Cups, and he added a second in the 39th minute.
He then converted a penalty in the round of 32 against Croatia on 2 July before Portugal fell 1-0 to Spain in the last 16.
That leaves him as Portugal’s outright top scorer at the World Cup with 11 career goals in the tournament.
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February 2027 the likeliest month
Since joining Al-Nassr, Ronaldo has scored 129 goals in 148 games, one every 1.15 matches, and has topped 24 goals in all but one of the past 22 seasons.
Portugal have six UEFA Nations League matches spread across September, October and November, and Al-Nassr’s league programme runs to 29 May.
The National’s tracker, published on 10 August, projects the 1,000th goal to arrive in February 2027. A run before December, it argued, would need Ronaldo to be “physically and technically perfect”, “a big ask even for a superhuman”.
His first appearance of the season, when it comes, starts the clock properly.
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