Cristiano Ronaldo is in danger of missing out on a third straight Golden Boot in Saudi Arabia after sitting out two league games for Al Nassr to protest against the Saudi Pro League.
Ronaldo, 41, was absent from the squad for Friday’s league win against Al Ittihad, having also not been featured in Monday’s victory over Al Riyadh.
Al-Qadsiyah’s Mexico forward Julián Quiñores overtook Ronaldo in the Saudi Pro League scorers’ table when he scored the equaliser in his team’s 1-1 league draw against Al-Fateh to make it 18 league goals this season.
Ronaldo has 17 goals, two less than English forward Ivan Toney, who leads the scoring charts with 19 goals from 19 games for Al-Ahli.
Saudi Pro League top scorers
Ivan Toney (19)
Julián Quiñores (18)
Cristiano Ronaldo (17)
Roger Martínez (15)
Joshua King (14)
João Félix (13)
Mateo Retegui (12)
Georginio Wijnaldum and Karim Benzema (11)
The Portugal captain led the goal-scoring chart with 35 goals in the 2023-24 seasons, and once again finished at the top in the 2024-2025 season with 25 goals.
Al Nassr have given no indication as to when Ronaldo will return to play.
Ronaldo, who has trained regularly with his team, is unhappy that the Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF) did not invest enough in Al Nassr in the last transfer window and instead gave league leaders Al Hilal an advantage.
Al Hilal, who are also 75% owned by the PIF, signed Karim Benzema, Ronaldo’s former Real Madrid teammate, from Al Ittihad during the January window.
Ronaldo wants to receive guarantees by the PIF that changes will be made regarding the Saudi Pro League club’s management.
Al Nassr are second in the league standings, just a point behind Al Hilal and play at Al-Fateh on Feb. 14.
