Al Nassr’s new coach Pioli didn’t hesitate when asked to choose between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Al Nassr began a new stage under the leadership of Italian coach Stefano Pioli, who took the reins for today’s 0-3 Saudi Pro League win against Al Ettifaq. The team went into the game coming off a 1-1 draw against Al Shorta in the Asian Champions League, where Cristiano Ronaldo was absent due to picking up a virus.
Cristiano Ronaldo, seven goals in seven games
But this evening, everything went to plan. Pioli’s debut could not have been better, with Cristiano Ronaldo back available and opening the scoring the penalty spot on 33 minutes.
The Portuguese star continues on his way to 1,000 career goals and, while he is on the field, this season he has not stopped scoring. He has scored in all seven of the games he has played so far this season - including two for Portugal during the recent international break.
Pioli off to a winning start
The new era under the Italian strategist is already looking promising, as Cristiano and his teammates were in desperate need of a change. Since the the Portuguese star’s arrival, Al Nassr have yet to celebrate a title - despite the great individual level shown by football’s top scorer of all-time, who has Sadio Mané and Talisca as his companions up front.
Stefano Pioli considers Cristiano better than Messi
During his presentation with Al Nassr just a few days ago, Stefano Pioli answered the obligatory question that is always asked to any new coach of Cristiano Ronaldo or Messi, about who is better and why...
“I think Cristiano Ronaldo is superior to Lionel Messi, he has scored more goals than games,” the coach told reporters, praising the incessant goal-scoring pace that has made Cristiano the player to have scored more career goals than anyone in history.
Cristiano scored the 900th goal of his professional career in Portugal’s 2024/25 Nations League game against Croatia in Lisbon on 5 September. It brought his international tally to 132 - way ahead of Messi’s 109 for Argentina. No one else has scored as many national team goals as Cristiano and for now, it looks like his record will stand for a very long time.
At 39 years of age, he is already thinking about hitting 1,000 - and he’s 99 goals away from achieving it. He finished last season with 50 goals so who knows... Recently though, he reflected on what he will miss most about the game when he finally decides to retire.