It's not long since Cristiano Ronaldo drew the ire of Erik Ten Hag and forced his way out of Manchester United.
The acrimonious departure from the club where he burst onto the scene has marred the closing stages of the Portuguese striker's final years, and eventually saw him sign a lucrative deal with Saudi Arabian club Al Nassr.
To say that the move was a step down for Ronaldo is putting it lightly, as he departed the top level of European football to finish his career with a huge pay cheque new challenge in a league which receives little mainstream coverage.
The expectation might have been that Ronaldo would easily rack up another bucketload of goals in a much less demanding league, but he has yet to score after two competitive games for Al Nassr.
Now, it appears he has already drawn the frustration of his new manager Rudi Garcia, who chose a crucial Ronaldo miss as one of the key causes of Al Nassr's Super Cup semi-final defeat to Al-Ittihad on Thursday evening.
Cristiano Ronaldo criticised by Al Nassr manager
Cristiano Ronaldo's first game in Saudi Arabia came for an all-star team against Lionel Messi's PSG on January 19, a game in which he scored twice.
Since playing his first competitive minutes with his Al Nassr teammates, however, he has found the going tougher, failing to get off the mark in his first league game, and again in Thursday's Super Cup tie.
With Al-Ittihad 1-0 up, Ronaldo had a huge chance to level the game, but fluffed his lines. Shortly afterwards, Al-Ittihad would go 2-0 up, and ultimately came out 3-1 winners.
Abderrazak Hamdallah doubles the advance for Al-Ittihad 𝗦𝗘𝗖𝗢𝗡𝗗𝗦 after Ronaldo almost scored his first goal in the Saudi football league 👏👏 pic.twitter.com/Qbehw5X9j6
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) January 26, 2023
After the game, former Roma boss Garcia spoke about the match, and zeroed in on Ronaldo's miss as a crucial moment:
One of the things that changed the course of the match was Cristiano's missed opportunity in the first half.
I congratulate Al-Ittihad. They presented a much better first half than us, and we played a good second half, but unfortunately we were not able to adjust the result.
It's true that we regret losing the Super Cup, but we are still the first in the league.
Al Nassr remain in first place in the Saudi Pro League, one point ahead of Al-Hilal with a game in hand.
If they are to maintain their title charge, they will hope that their big money signing Cristiano Ronaldo can start to find the back of the net.
Ronaldo left Manchester United in November after storming out of a game against Tottenham Hotspur early, before an explosive interview with Piers Morgan made his position at the club untenable.
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