Goa wait for word on Ronaldo, Al Nassr set to arrive tonight

Panaji: Police, players, coaches, support staff, and fans, all ask the same question: Is Ronaldo coming?

At the stadium, on the ground, inside the offices of high-profile police officers, and on social media, everyone wants to know about Cristiano Ronaldo’s visit to Goa with for the AFC Champions League Two group-stage game on Oct 22.

For now, nobody really has an answer.

“We reached out to Al-Nassr FC multiple times for a confirmation since the police have been requesting, so that they can plan the security better. But till now, the club has received neither confirmation nor denial about Ronaldo. There are less than 24 hours before the team’s scheduled arrival here,” a senior club official told TOI.

Al-Nassr are expected to land at the Dabolim international airport late on Monday night.

Many believe it’s unlikely that Ronaldo will travel for this week’s ACL2 clash.

“Ronaldo played for Portugal against Hungary in the World Cup qualifiers on Tuesday, then travelled from Lisbon to Riyadh and played the full 90 minutes of the Saudi Pro League game on Saturday. It’s very unlikely that he will be on the flight for the FC Goa game, given that there’s another league game just three days later (on Oct 25).

“If Al-Nassr and coach Jorje Jesus planned to include Ronaldo for the away trip to Goa, football logic suggests that he would have been provided some rest for the game against relegation-threatened Al Fateh. It looks very unlikely that he will travel,” said another official after training at the Athletic Stadium in Bambolim.

The police too have not been informed about Ronaldo’s arrival and were instead told that “even representatives of Al-Nassr who are in the state for a recce, did not provide any confirmation regarding the superstar’s participation.”

A five-time Ballon d’Or award winner, Ronaldo is yet to make an appearance in the group stage of the AFC Champions League Two, Asian football’s second-tier club competition. He was not on the team sheet for the home game against FC Istiklol and did not make the trip to Iraq for the clash against Al Zawraa.

“Ronaldo is a great and well-known player, but we have played several consecutive matches recently, and he is 40 years old, so I decided to give him some rest,” Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus said last month in Iraq, explaining why the superstar was left behind in Saudi Arabia.

Besides Ronaldo, Al-Nassr have several stars like Sadio Mane, Joao Felix, Inigo Martinez and Kingsley Coman, all of whom have been involved in the previous ACL2 group games.

Al-Nassr are on top with an all-win record, while Al Zawraa and FC Istiklol both have three points each, after their wins against bottom-placed FC Goa.Get the latest lifestyle updates on Times of India, along with Happy Diwali wishes, messages and quotes !