An own goal by Bento in the 98th minute on Tuesday, in a match involving Al Hilal, delayed Al Nassr’s Saudi Pro League celebration.
Cristiano Ronaldo — who has played 29 Saudi Pro League matches and scored 26 goals, one King Cup match without scoring, three AFC Champions League Two matches with one goal, and two Saudi Super Cup matches with one goal — is left to watch the finish from the middle of a packed fixture list as his team’s domestic fate remains unsettled.
Al Nassr still lead the title race by five points, but their championship is no longer sealed: Al Nassr could become Saudi Pro League champion only if Al Hilal fail to beat Neom. If Al Hilal win, the title race would be pushed to the final match next Thursday.
Should the title remain undecided after this weekend, Al Nassr will face Damac in their final league fixture while Al Hilal would play Al Fayha — a direct path to a winner-takes-all finish on the last day of the season.
The timing leaves Al Nassr juggling two priorities at once. On Saturday they are due to meet Gamba Osaka in the AFC Champions League Two final in Riyadh, capping a continental run that has been unblemished so far: six group stage wins, both round of 16 matches, a quarterfinal victory and a semifinal win. By the time they reach the final, Al Nassr will have recorded 10 straight victories in that continental run.
Those numbers underline why the domestic slip matters. Ronaldo has appeared 35 times across the competitions listed here and scored 28 goals, a tally that has been central to Al Nassr’s season. The club’s continental perfection and his scoring form mean every remaining al-nassr games this month carry amplified consequence for silverware and momentum.
There is a practical tension built into the schedule: a continental final in Riyadh on Saturday and a potential title-deciding league day next Thursday leave little time for recovery or rotation. The exact Saudi Pro League champion prize for 2025-26 has not been disclosed; the most recent publicly revealed winner’s sum dates to 2023, when Al Ittihad earned SR5 million — about $1.33 million.
The immediate arithmetic is simple and unforgiving. If Al Hilal avoid defeat against Neom, Al Nassr’s five-point cushion evaporates into a two-point gap that would carry into the season’s last day. If Al Hilal do not win, Al Nassr can clinch without playing again; if they do, the title will be decided on the final fixtures next Thursday.
The unresolved question that now defines the run-in is straightforward: will Al Hilal get the result they need against Neom? How that answer falls will determine whether Al Nassr’s continental climax in Riyadh is accompanied by domestic celebration or by a postponed coronation that must be settled in the closing 90 minutes of the league.
For Ronaldo and the rest of the squad, the schedule creates a narrow window to finish both threads. Their continental record to date — winning all six group matches, both round of 16 ties, the quarterfinal and the semifinal — has been flawless; the remaining matches will show whether Al Nassr can translate that consistency into a domestic title as well.
