Hussein Abdulghani, the Saudi football legend, has criticised Al-Nassr's Australian head coach Angie Postecoglou, accusing him of pampering Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo at the team's expense.
Al-Nassr edged Neom 1-0 at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh yesterday, Tuesday, in the tenth round of the Saudi Roshn League.
Ronaldo laboured through a modest display. He missed a penalty in first-half stoppage time, yet stayed on the pitch for the full 90 minutes.
That decision drew fire from Abdulghani. Speaking on the programme "Nadeena" on "MBC 1", he said: "I believe the coach's (Postecoglou) changes in the second half were wrong in one way or another."
"The team was ahead by a clean goal, and the result is the most important thing for him, regardless of which player is substituted, so if Cristiano Ronaldo had been substituted there would not have been any problem," he explained.
Asked directly whether Postecoglou had pampered Ronaldo by keeping him on, Abdulghani replied: "This is clear, because the change should have happened, the team was ahead 1-0, Ronaldo was not on form in a complicated match, and he had missed a penalty."
He went further: "The coach should have thought about the team more than thinking about keeping a player on or taking him off, especially since Ronaldo possesses great mental strength, and is not someone shaky who would be affected by being substituted after missing a penalty."
His verdict came with a nod to the result: "As long as the match was complicated, difficult and heavy, the most important thing is to look for how to win it, but in the end Al-Nassr achieved what was required, and won the three points, to continue competing for the top of the league."
The win lifted Al-Nassr to 22 points and third in the Saudi League table. They sit three points behind leaders Al-Qadisiyah, who have played a game more, and two adrift of second-placed Al-Hilal.