Al-Nassr icon, Fahad Al-Harifi has slammed Cristiano Ronaldo and called for his expulsion from the club.
Al-Harifi made the call following the Knights of Najd’s devastating 4-0 defeat to Al-Ain in their AFC Champions League Elite encounter on Tuesday.
Al-Nassr was thoroughly dominated throughout the match as Al-Ain demonstrated superior performance across the full 90 minutes.
Rahimi capitalised on a mistake by Saad Al-Nasser in the 25th minute to score the opening goal, before adding a second with a precise finish in the 63rd minute.
Soufiane Rahimi scored again in the 72nd minute, while Georgios Giakoumakis added another goal in the 85th minute to secure all three points for the home side.
Cristiano Ronaldo failed to exert significant influence on the match, registering just one shot on target from five attempts.
After the match, Al-Harifi appeared on the Our League is Different programme, saying Ronaldo provides no value to Al-Nassr from either a competitive or commercial standpoint.
He stated, according to Kooora: “Ronaldo has not added anything to Al-Nassr. His presence is not important to the club, and he must be expelled.
“Ronaldo did not bring major championships to Al-Nassr, and even from a marketing perspective, the club did not benefit from him.
“Why is the management waiting for him? He is an older player and does not give me the required addition, and at the same time, he receives huge sums of money without any benefit.”
He further contended that no individual player supersedes the institution, referencing Karim Benzema’s recent departure from Al-Hilal as a precedent:
“Al-Nassr supersedes Ronaldo, and we witnessed how Al-Hilal handled Benzema—they chose to part ways when they determined the player failed to deliver the necessary value, and we must adopt an identical approach with the Portuguese player,” he said.
Since his arrival at Al-Nassr in January 2023, Cristiano Ronaldo has accumulated 126 goals and 24 assists in 149 matches across all competitions, contributing to the club’s Saudi Pro League championship victory in the previous season.
SPL: ‘Ronaldo must be expelled, he’s added nothing’ – Al Nassr legend, Al-Harifi