Fahd Al-Hurifi, the former Al-Nassr legend, has opened fire on Cristiano Ronaldo after the club's captain and his team-mates were hammered 4-0 by the UAE's Al Ain in the first round of the AFC Champions League Elite.
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Al-Hurifi joined the wave of criticism aimed at Ronaldo after the collapse against Al Ain. In his eyes, the Portuguese's continued presence at Al-Nassr no longer delivers what the club needs, on the pitch or in terms of results and trophies, and he urged the management to make a decisive call on the forward's future.
Speaking on the programme "Doreena Ghair", Al-Hurifi said: "Ronaldo has not added anything to Al-Nassr and his presence holds no importance for the club, and he must be dismissed at the present time." He tore into the club for leaning on their captain despite his advancing age and what he sees as a failure to deliver.
The Al-Nassr legend went on: "Ronaldo has not brought major titles to Al-Nassr, and even on the marketing side the club has not benefited from him. Why is the management waiting on him? A player advanced in age who does not give me the required contribution, and at the same time he receives huge sums of money with no benefit."
Keeping Ronaldo, Al-Hurifi argued, does nothing for Al-Nassr's objectives. He believes the forward is now more focused on chasing his own personal milestone of 1,000 goals than on helping the team lift trophies.
He pressed on, insisting the club is bigger than any player and pointing to how Al-Hilal handled France's Karim Benzema. "Al-Nassr is bigger than Ronaldo, and we saw what Al-Hilal did with Benzema," he said. "They decided to get rid of him when they felt the player did not represent the required benefit, and we must deal with the Portuguese player in the same way."
Those words land after one of Al-Nassr's toughest nights of the season. The 4-0 defeat to Al Ain has cranked up the pressure on Ronaldo and Ange Postecoglou's staff, with fierce debate raging over the captain's future and his role in the months ahead.
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