Cristiano Ronaldo: Interesting Stats Show Al Nassr Have Gotten Worse Since Portuguese's Arrival

• Al Nassr manager Rudi Garcia recently claimed he was not happy with his team’s performance
• Stats now show Al Nassr have fallen off since the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo
• Despite the Portugal star’s individual goal-scoring brilliance the team overall has lost their lead at the top and are out of their domestic cup

Cristiano Ronaldo has continued his goal-scoring prowess and record-breaking after joining Al Nassr from Manchester United, but team stats after the Portuguese’s arrival are worrying.

The 38-year-old joined Al Nassr at the tail end of 2022, after falling out with Manchester United.

This came after he did an explosive interview with Piers Morgan where he claimed he had no respect for Erik Ten Hag, while slamming the club for “remaining the same” since his initial departure in 2009.

When he joined the Saudi Arabia giants, they were top of the Saudi Pro League, albeit by only one point.

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Al Nassr went into 2023 with 26 points from 11 matches, having won eight games and losing just once.

That form saw them establish a point’s lead over Al Shabab who had a game in hand.

Al Nassr’s 2022 form

After the arrival of Cristiano Ronaldo, however, the club seems to have fallen off for some reason, if stats are anything to go by.

According to Footy Stats, Al Nassr have drawn three and lost once in their 12 league matches since Ronaldo’s arrival, a run that has seen them lose their top status on the table to Al Ittihad, who now sit three points clear.

In addition, a Super Cup defeat to Al-Ittihad 3-1 now means Al Nassr have lost twice in the same season to their bitter rivals.

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Does Ronaldo make teams worse?

Ronaldo has always been used as a scapegoat wherever he has gone since leaving Real Madrid in 2018.

At United, it was a similar story as Ronaldo emerged as the club’s top scorer in 2021/22, but the club ended up in 6th at the end of the season.

A topsy-turvy first half of the 2022/23 campaign for United led to a general feeling that perhaps Ronaldo was setting the team back, and it was a similar case in his final season with Juventus, who finished fourth in 2020/21, and have never won the league since.

Al Nassr manager criticizes Ronaldo and co

Sports Brief also reported on the Al Nassr manager’s fierce criticism of his team as he claimed his team was not doing enough after falling three points behind Al-Ittihad.

With seven games to spare, Garcia and his side have their work cut out for them and would hope Al-Ittihad stumbles in their subsequent games, in order to stand a chance of winning their first league crown since the 2018–19 season.