Mohamed Al-Deayea, the Saudi and Al-Hilal goalkeeping legend, has thrown himself back into the centre of the debate over whether Cristiano Ronaldo can reach the 1,000th goal of his career. His fresh comments carry a clear challenge to the Portuguese, even though Ronaldo has never been closer to the milestone.
Those words followed Ronaldo's standout display against Al-Khaleej and the hat-trick that came with it, a performance that reignited talk of the long-awaited landmark. At his age, the forward simply keeps finding the net.
Having previously doubted Al-Nassr's captain could ever reach the number, the Al-Hilal legend now sets a new condition to settle his stance on the bet.
Al-Deayea changes his stance on Ronaldo's 1,000-goal milestone
When the debate first began, Al-Deayea questioned whether Ronaldo could pull it off. His argument leaned on age and the sheer number of seasons the forward would need to keep scoring to hit such a figure.
Ronaldo's relentless scoring, and his determination to keep playing at the top level, has softened the Saudi goalkeeping legend's position. He now accepts the achievement is possible, pointing to the player's exceptional fitness and drive.
An intriguing condition from the Al-Hilal legend
Speaking on the programme "Doreena Ghair", Al-Deayea laid down a fresh challenge over Ronaldo's chances of reaching 1,000 goals: "If Ronaldo does not score 15 goals before the winter period, he will not break the 1,000-goal barrier."
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That puts Al-Nassr's captain up against the clock. Rather than focusing on his current total or his ability to carry on for more years, Al-Deayea ties the milestone directly to Ronaldo's scoring rate over the coming weeks.
A sarcastic comment ignites the debate about Roshn League defences
The condition was not the end of it. Al-Deayea threw in a dig at the defensive quality of some Saudi Roshn Pro League sides: "Ronaldo will reach a thousand goals as long as we have teams with defences like this."
His comment reopens the question of how competitive the Saudi league really is, and how much the chances Ronaldo gets are shaping his run at the historic number, especially after that hat-trick against Al-Khaleej.
Ronaldo's three goals drove Al-Nassr to a 5-3 win over Al-Khaleej on Matchday 12 of the Roshn League, taking his tally to 885.