Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates Saudi Arabia’s Gulf 27 triumph with Al Nassr team-mates

Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al Nassr’s celebrations after Saudi Arabia won the 27th edition of the Arabian Gulf Cup, congratulating the club’s players who helped secure the national team’s title.

Saudi Arabia were crowned champions on Tuesday after beating United Arab Emirates 2-0 in the final at Alinma Stadium in Jeddah.

The five Al Nassr players involved in the tournament returned to club training on Thursday, where they were welcomed by their team-mates. They included goalkeeper Nawaf Al-Aqidi, who suffered an injury in Saudi Arabia’s opening match, defender Abdulilah Al-Omari, full-back Nawaf Boushal, midfielder Abdullah Al-Khaibari and forward Abdullah Al-Hamdan.

Ronaldo was seen smiling broadly in a video posted by Al Nassr on its official X account. The Portugal captain warmly congratulated the five players and posed for photographs with them.

The post was captioned: “Joy for the nation 🇸🇦 at Al Nassr 🤩”.

Ronaldo’s appearance came on a difficult day for the 41-year-old, who released a statement on the same day detailing the disagreement between himself and Portugal manager Jorge Jesus.

Al Nassr will face Al-Diriyah at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh on Friday, in the eighth round of the Roshn Saudi League.

They are third in the league table with 16 points from five wins, one draw and one defeat. Al Nassr are two points behind leaders Al Hilal and one point adrift of second-placed Al-Ittihad.