UEFA are considering inviting Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr to the Champions League next season, reports in Saudi Arabia have claimed.
Last week, Ronaldo scored his 13th Saudi Pro League goal of the campaign as Al Nassr beat Al Wehda 3-1 to close to within four points of table-toppers Al Hilal.
While the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has been in electric form this term, his performances have been away from the glare of a large contingent of European supporters.
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That may not be the case for long, however. According to Saudi journalist AlHarbi44 on X, formally Twitter, UEFA are considering inviting Al Nassr to the 2024/2025 edition of the Champions League.
As per the journalist, the reasoning for this is that Al Nassr are considered among the “three most famous clubs in the world” and have “great popularity” among European supporters.
Indeed, Ronaldo is arguably the most impressive performer in Champions League history and would welcome Al Nassr’s involvement in the competition.
The Portugal international, who was the first man to win the Champions League on five occasions, has also made more competition appearances and scored more goals (140) than any other player in the tournament.
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That is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Ronaldo’s records in Europe’s premier competition.
Having been named Champions League top scorer on seven occasions, Ronaldo has also scored 67 goals in the knockout stages of the tournament, netted in three finals and is the only player to have scored in 11 Champions League games in succession.
Next season the Champions League group stage will be scrapped and instead, 36 teams will be in one big league table.
The top eight of the final table will go directly through to the round of 16, while those positioned ninth to 24th will enter a playoff to earn the other eight places in the round of 16. Positions 25 to 36 are eliminated from Europe.
Topics: Football, UEFA, Champions League, Al Nassr, Cristiano Ronaldo
Chris Byfield