Cristiano Ronaldo Just Missed a Saudi League Record Despite Scoring ‘Most Goals in a Single Season’ During Al Nassr’s Win vs Al Ittihad

The 2023–24 Saudi Pro League season officially comes to an end. Al Nassr may have lost the league to Al Hilal, but they managed to end their campaign on a high note, clinching a remarkable 4-2 win in their final game against Al Ittihad. But the spotlight remains fixated on the evergreen Cristiano Ronaldo, who, despite finishing as the league’s top scorer, narrowly missed out on setting another significant record.

A deadlock-breaking goal just before halftime gave his side a narrow lead and a second goal after the hour mark saw his tally rise to 35 goals. Aside from being this season’s top scorer, the Portuguese superstar is the first-ever player to break the Saudi Pro League’s all-time record for scoring most goals in a single season. Ironically, Ronaldo overtook this crown from Al Nassr’s previous striker and current Al Ittihad star, Abderrazak Hamdallah.

The Moroccan had scored 34 goals during the 2018–19 campaign. However, there is one key record that he couldn’t clinch. Unlike his Real Madrid days, where he scored five goals on two occasions, Ronaldo failed to score most goals in a single Roshn League game. Sami Al-Jaber’s six goals during Al Hilal’s 8-0 win over Al-Raed in 1990 is still the most by any player in a single league game. Sadly, his failure doesn’t end here!

The skipper also failed to take over the record for the most goals scored by a foreign player, with former Al-Ahli star Djaniny topping the chart with five goals. CR7 has only managed to score just 4 goals in a single match that came during a 0-4 win over Al Wehda last season. While these are a few records that Ronaldo can chase next season, there are some he might never be able to break!

Saudi Pro League records that Cristiano Ronaldo won’t get to break!

First is of course becoming Saudi Pro League’s all-time top scorer. Majed Abdullah currently has this title, who scored 186 times in 194 matches during his 20-year career. Within two seasons, Cristiano Ronaldo has netted just 56 goals in 62 games. Now that this would be his final year, it’s unlikely he would reach this milestone. The next record is again, not being the all-time top scorer of Al Nassr as Majed Abdullah again tops the chart. 

Another record Ronaldo has yet to achieve is the most league appearances by a foreign player, a title held by Syrian Jehad Al-Hussain, who played in over 191 games. Meanwhile, the European record is held by Portuguese-Brazilian Sandro Manoel, with 162 appearances for Al-Taawoun and Al-Fateh. Lastly, the record for the oldest player to score in the Saudi Pro League belongs to Essam El Hadary, who achieved this feat at 44 years, 10 months, and 25 days.

Hypothetically, Ronaldo would need over five more seasons to break this record, which isn’t feasible. Even though Cristiano has missed out on such historic feats, he can still bask in the latest achievements of his career.