Three seasons, no trophies: Cristiano Ronaldo's Saudi adventure becoming little more than a stat-padding exercise as Al-Nassr close in on another year without silverware

Despite Ronaldo's arrival, Al-Nassr finished five points behind Al-Ittihad in the 2022-23 Pro League title race, and a whopping 14 short of champions Al-Hilal in the following campaign. History is destined to repeat itself this time around, with Al-Ittihad back at the summit on 68 points, six ahead of Al-Hilal and eight clear of third-placed Al-Nassr.

Stefano Pioli's side can close the gap by beating Al-Ittihad at Al-Awwal Park next week, but it would be a huge surprise if the current leaders are usurped, given how consistent they've been across their first 29 games (21 wins, five draws and three defeats). There is likely to be a consolation prize coming Ronaldo's way, though.

The Sporting CP academy graduate has hit 23 goals in 27 league appearances for Al-Nassr so far this term, which puts him top of the Golden Boot rankings ahead of Al-Ahli's Ivan Toney and Al-Shabab's Abderrazak Hamdallah (both on 19), and Al-Ittihad talisman Karim Benzema (18). However, Benzema will not lose any sleep if he doesn't catch up to his old Real Madrid team-mate.

"I don’t care about this my friend," Benzema said to a reporter after scoring in Al-Ittihad's crucial 3-2 win against Al-Ettifaq on April 21. "The most important thing is the (Pro League) trophy." The 37-year-old went viral for those comments, which subtly highlighted the difference between his mentality and Ronaldo's.

It's never felt like team trophies are as important to Ronaldo as individual ones. Indeed, he has never looked happier than when stepping on stage to collect each of his five Ballon d'Or awards ahead of eternal rival Lionel Messi, which he has consistently used as ammunition to boast about being "the best player in history".

At Al-Nassr, Ronaldo has appeared to be more motivated by boosting his career goals tally than anything else. The Portugal international brought up goal 899 in a 4-1 win over Al-Fayha back in August, and subsequently proceeded to set the most ambitious of targets in a sit-down interview with former Manchester United colleague Rio Ferdinand on his YouTube channel.

"For me, it’s the best mark that I can have in football, to reach, first 900 goals," Ronaldo said. "After, my challenge is 1,000 goals." He then aimed a dig at the late Brazil legend Pele, who once claimed to have reached 1,279 goals, but also included those he'd scored in unofficial matches, adding: "All the goals that I score, they have video. So I can prove that it’s [real]. If I don’t have injuries, I want that [goal tally]."

Fast-forward to the present day, and Ronaldo is up to 933 - as the whole world knows courtesy of a goal-by-goal social media countdown from transfer guru Fabrizio Romano - but we've yet to hear him speak with the same passion about Al-Nassr's aspirations for collective success.

Every time Al-Nassr take to the pitch, most of the focus is placed on whether Ronaldo will edge closer to the four-digit milestone. It may not have been intentional, but he has created a sideshow that has detracted from the efforts of the rest of the players in Pioli's squad.

It's by no means a foregone conclusion that Ronaldo will get to 1,000 goals, though. He'll probably have to keep playing for at least two more seasons, which is the length of the contract extension he has reportedly already agreed at Al-Nassr, but there is no guarantee the veteran frontman will be able to maintain his prolific strike rate.

As it stands, Ronaldo is 11 goals shy of the 44-goal mark he reached in all competitions last season. It works in his favour that the standard of Saudi football still doesn't compare to any of Europe's major leagues, and Ronaldo hasn't lost any of his predatory instincts, but he's nowhere near as quick or mobile as he once was.

That fact may not be lost on him, either. After scoring a brace in Al-Nassr's 3-1 derby win over Al-Hilal last month, Ronaldo made the surprise declaration: "Guys, let’s enjoy the moment, the present. I’m not following 1,000 [goals]. If it’s yes, perfect. If it’s not, it’s not."

Ronaldo has not suddenly transformed into a humble man; those words were simply an indication of self-doubt creeping in.

So far, Ronaldo has achieved nothing of real note in Saudi Arabia, unless you count the huge increase in his weekly earnings. That is an embarrassing state of affairs for a player of Ronaldo's stature, especially given the success his peers have enjoyed since following the Portuguese to the Middle East.

Benzema, Fabinho and N'Golo Kante are all on the cusp of a title party at Al-Ittihad, while Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Aleksandar Mitrovic and Malcom played key roles in Al-Hilal's run to the Pro League trophy in 2023-24. Al-Nassr's raid on Europe didn't stop at Ronaldo either, with the likes of Sadio Mane, Marcelo Brozovic, Aymeric Laporte and, most recently, Jhon Duran having also been convinced to join the Riyadh club's project.

So why have Al-Nassr not evolved in the same way as their two main competitors? One reason could be that everything always has to revolve around Ronaldo.

The same accusation was levelled at United when their form dropped off a cliff after Ronaldo's homecoming transfer from Juventus in 2021. He was immediately made the focal point in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's line up, and contributed more than his fair share of goals, but the Red Devils' attempts to accommodate him threw the rest of the team out of balance.

It's been a similar story for Al-Nassr. Rudi Garcia and Luis Castro both failed to mould a cohesive unit under the pressure of always starting Ronaldo, and Pioli has fared no better since being appointed manager in September.

To make matters worse for Ronaldo, he may have to watch former Brentford star Toney being crowned an AFC Champions League winner this weekend. Toney was on target in Al-Ahli's 3-1 semi-final triumph against Al-Hilal, and if he can succeed where Ronaldo failed against Kawazaki in the final, the England international will have accomplished more in one season in Saudi than CR7 has in three.

Make no mistake, Al-Nassr's semi-final exit was a complete disaster, in part because the Asian competition, which was rebranded as the AFC Champions League Elite ahead of the 2024-25 campaign, introduced format changes that seemingly made Saudi teams' chances of success far greater.

Previously, the AFC Champions League was split into two regions, meaning the final would always be played between a team from the west - such as Saudi, Qatar or the United Arab Emirates -and a team from the east - in most cases those from Japan or South Korea.

The new format, however, brings all the remaining clubs together at the quarter-final stage. The Saudi city of Jeddah was selected to host all of the one-legged knockout games for the inaugural 'Elite' season, bringing with it the possibility of teams from the same region facing off in the final.

That scenario did not come to pass this time, though Al-Ahli could still become only the second Saudi side to win the trophy in the last 19 years, while there were three Pro League representatives in the semis. It's not clear whether it was a conscious decision on the Asian Football Confederation's part, but there's no doubt that having as many Saudi clubs as possible reach the final stages is a benefit given the league's rapid growth, and Al-Nassr failed to capitalise on the advantages brought about by the restructuring.

There is also still a danger Al-Nassr won't even qualify for next season's AFC Champions League. Only the top-three Pro League teams are granted passage, and while Al-Nassr currently occupy the last spot, a defeat to Al-Ittihad next Wednesday will open to door for Al-Ahli, who are only two points back in fourth.

It would be another humiliating blow for Ronaldo if Al-Nassr were to miss out on Asia's most prestigious club competition in 2025-26, especially as he gears up to lead Portugal at another World Cup. But it would not a surprising one. Long gone are the days when Ronaldo lifted his team and all those around him through a combination of individual brilliance and true grit.

He's still a fierce competitor, but Ronaldo has become even more single-minded as his powers have waned instead of working to adapt his game. That stubborn attitude has seen Ronaldo make as many headlines for his petulant, and sometimes deplorable, behaviour as for his goal-scoring exploits in the Middle East.

In the past, Ronaldo had the silverware to mask his faults, but now they are more obvious than ever, and it's made for a sad spectacle. He probably should have retired after the 2022 World Cup, when it first became clear his time at the highest level was over.

When it's all said and done, Ronaldo will still go down as one of the greatest footballers to ever grace the pitch, and deservedly so. But if this spell in Saudi Arabia doesn't bear fruit next season, it will be largely remembered as him seeing out his final days with little to shout about.