While Cristiano Ronaldo's much-awaited debut in Saudi Arabia was a memorable affair as he scored a brace in a friendly game against Paris Saint-Germain, he couldn't repeat that performance on his competitive playing for Al-Nassr. Ronaldo featured in the starting XI of his new club against Ettifaq at the King Saud University Stadium in Riyadh and even though Al-Nassr did end up on the winning side, Ronaldo failed to impress as he couldn't find the back of the net.
The 37-year-old did come close to having an assist alongside his name but his pass was not converted by his teammate, implying an uneventful for the record goal-scorer. After the five-time Ballon d'Or winner and the world's highest-paid footballer failed to score, fans have flooded social media with all sorts of memes with most trolling the ex-Manchester United forward.
"We didn’t buy Cristiano Ronaldo for 300 million just to drop a total stinker vs one of the worst teams in the league.. What is this crap? Where’s the goals?," one user wrote.
"No way Ronaldo is the lowest rated player against an unknown club 😭😭," a different social media account pointed out.
"Mid mid mid player.. advice him to retire already," a third user suggested that Ronaldo should retire.
"Messi in WC final vs France Ronaldo vs somebody named Al-Ettifaq. Life is perfect now.🙏," another account tried to take a dig at Ronaldo.
Notably, Ronaldo wore the captain's armband for the team but had an underwhelming start in his debut as he lost the ball twice in an attempt to trick his opponents. Even his teammates couldn't get him the ball as often as they would have liked, given his great goal-scoring knack.
Ronaldo did have a go at the goal from the edge of the box early in the match but it was deflected over safely. The only goal of the match was headed in by Anderson Talisca on a Abdulmajeed Al Sulaiheem cross.
The superstar footballer had put pen on paper to reportedly a $200 million-per-year deal with the Saudi club after his contract with the Red Devils was terminated following an explosive interview with journalist Piers Morgan. The contract has made him the world's highest-paid footballer.