ARABIAN NIGHTS
I watched Cristiano Ronaldo play for Al-Nassr, the atmosphere and standard shocked me… but he didn’t seem bothered
Ronaldo is still the poster boy of Saudi fooball - but did he live up to the billing?
WHEN I entered Al-Shabab's stadium to watch Cristiano Ronaldo & Co in action, the 90 minutes that followed surprised me.
It is now more than 18 months since Ronaldo joined the Saudi Arabia Pro League after his controversial Manchester United exit.
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And after just one full season, he is £200million richer thanks to signing football's biggest-ever contract.
His arrival sparked an influx of stars who left Europe's top leagues to chase mega-money deals in the Middle East.
And the huge offers on the table threatened to turn football as we know it on its head.
The dust has since settled in the desert and the high-profile yet controversial transfers to sizzling Saudi seem to have cooled down.
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The likes of Jordan Henderson - despite insisting his move was not money-orientated - turned his back on the SPL after just six months.
And other big names such as Neymar have yet to make much of an impact, although the Brazilian suffered a lengthy injury lay-off shortly after signing for champions Al-Hilal.
But Ronaldo - approaching two years in the Gulf State - is still the poster boy for the SPL.
So when I arrived at Al-Shabab's 15,000-seat stadium, I feared it would be a sad affair to witness what his career swansong has come to.
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But I was pleasantly surprised.
I was almost expecting to see another crowd of just over 600, much like the one who infamously watched Henderson in action before his move to Ajax.
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Instead, 10,000 showed up and despite being an Al-Nassr away game, most were there for Ronaldo.
The travelling Al-Nassr faithful made themselves known before the game had even kicked off by blaring out club anthems.
SunSport snuck into the away end to get amongst the action - although our cover was blown as a result of being the only one not in Al-Nassr yellow.
As the drums beat down and the chants sounded, my focus then turned to the game itself.
My cynical preconceptions had me expecting 90 minutes of low-level football with the odd moment of brilliance from Ronaldo or Sadio Mane.
It was the total opposite.
In fact, the Champions League-winning pair struggled to impact the game for the most part.
Mane looked pretty lost on the left wing while Ronaldo at times barely seemed bothered by what was going on in front of him.
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There were times when even getting himself back onside for an Al-Nassr counter attack looked to be a chore for the Portugal icon.
At half-time, I was taken aback by the quality of football but lack of influence from Ronaldo and Mane.
Now, it's worth mentioning Ronaldo had been over 4,000 miles away playing against Scotland just 72 hours before this game.
But for a player so competitive, who wants to reach 1,000 career goals, his lack of urgency at times left me shocked.
As the half-time whistle blew, it was time to check out the footie scran.
Now I wasn't expecting Pukka Pies and a non-alcoholic pint but rather some traditional Saudi cuisine.
Instead, only pastries, popcorn, cookies, coffee and various soda juices were on offer.
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I got myself a dodgy tasting cheese "croissant" with popcorn and a cherry soda, costing just £8.
And I was in my seat as the second half kicked off, but again Ronaldo and Mane struggled to make things happen.
It was actually another Premier League winner in Aymeric Laporte who opened the scoring with a volley after a corner.
As the ex-Manchester City defender reeled off in celebration, Ronaldo trotted over to enthusiastically join in.
Laporte looked to have won the game until an Ali Alhassan own goal levelled on 90 minutes.
Our footage shows Ronaldo retrieving the ball to the centre spot to try and spark a late fightback.
And to Al-Nassr's credit, that's what they did.
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A moment of trickery from winger Abdulrahman Ghareeb won a penalty for the visitors and gave Ronaldo - and the fans - the moment we'd all been waiting for.
But even as the squabbles ensued after the blatant spot kick was awarded, Ronaldo distanced himself from the rowing pack.
He then took the ball, placed it down and slotted past Kim Seung-gyu - before pulling off his trademark celebration on the 97th minute.
But amazingly the drama was not over just yet.
Al-Shabab themselves won a dramatic penalty in the 13 MINUTE of added time.
But Abderrazak Hamdallah failed to keep his nerve and hit the post - sparking a relieved celebration from Ronaldo - the most emotion he showed all night.
It brought a fittingly bonkers end to a pleasantly surprising experience watching Ronaldo's Al-Nassr live.
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The standard and atmosphere was no less than you would expect to see at some Prem and Championship games - thanks to the mix of elite names on the pitch.
But even more impressively, that was achieved without Ronaldo even being at his best.
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