“Just like in school, my classmates do their homework and I’m just the one receiving points and rewards”, OneFootball website (based in Germany) quoted Neymar jokingly saying on the day Al Hilal Club won the match. Al Hazm scored 4-1 to be crowned champion of the Saudi Pro League season 2023 – 2024 before 3 rounds with an unbeaten record (currently 29 wins and 2 draws), on May 12. “Neymar’s words are like rubbing salt into Ronaldo’s pain, the famous player had 2 seasons with Al Nassr Club but only always finished second,” website OneFootball expressed.
“It all counts when Neymar wins the 11th national championship in his career and the first championship with Al Hilal”, OneFootball site shared.
Neymar joined Al Hilal in the summer of 2023 for a transfer fee of 90 million euros from PSG Club, receiving a yearly salary of up to 150 million euros. However, this 32-year-old Brazilian player only played for Al Hilal in 5 matches, scored 1 goal and had 3 assists, before retiring from November last year until now due to injury.
“Did not play many matches and was also removed from the list in the second leg, but Neymar is still recognized as having won the Saudi Pro League championship because he was registered at the beginning of the season with Al Hilal Club. Furthermore, Neymar did not play due to a serious injury while playing for the Brazilian team and was determined to be on a long-term break. Al Hilal Club replaced him with another player as per tournament regulations. On the day Al Hilal was crowned, Neymar was with him The family came to attend in the stands and share the joy with the fans”, said the OneFootball website.
Meanwhile, famous player Ronaldo joined Al Nassr Club from the beginning of 2023 with a contract term until December 2025, receiving salary and other expenses each year up to 200 million euros, according to journalist Fabrizio Romano – information hunter expert. transfer news and The Guardian newspaper (UK).
However, since the arrival of Ronaldo, as in last season, Al Nassr, who was leading the Saudi Pro League during the first leg, suddenly performed poorly because they had to build a playing style that relied too much on the 39-year-old famous player. This Portugal.
Then at the end of the season, they lost their chance to win the championship to rival Al Ittihad. Similarly this season, although Al Nassr has added top stars such as Sadio Mane, Alex Telles, Aymeric Laporte and Marcelo Brozovic, the playing style is still focused around Ronaldo, making it easy for strong opponents to catch.
Al Nassr has received 4 losses since the beginning of the season, but all in important matches including 2 matches at the beginning of the season against Al Ettifaq with a score of 1-2 and Al Taawoun with a score of 0-2, both against direct competitors. is Al Hilal with a score of 0-3 or Al Raed with a score of 1-3, causing them to lose any chance of competing for the championship.
Ronaldo still scores regularly, leading the Saudi Pro League top scorer with 33 goals. But these goals became meaningless, when in key matches such as against their rival for the championship, Al Hilal, this famous player was completely incompetent and played very lacklusterly.
In addition to not yet winning the Saudi Pro League, in nearly 1 and a half years playing for Al Nassr, Ronaldo has not yet been able to help this team win any championship title other than the unofficial championship in the Arab Club Champions Cup. (pre-season friendly tournament).
There is currently only one chance for Ronaldo and Al Nassr to avoid a second consecutive empty season, which is the King Cup final, but they also have to face rival Al Hilal on May 31.