Cristiano Ronaldo’s struggles continued as he missed a crucial penalty in the dying moments of Al-Nassr’s King’s Cup match against Al-Taawoun, resulting in his team’s elimination from the tournament.
Despite being down 0-1, Ronaldo had the chance to equalize in stoppage time. However, his uncharacteristic miss sent the ball soaring over the bar, leaving the home crowd of 14,519 stunned. The blunder marked the first defeat for Al-Nassr’s new head coach, Stefano Pioli, since taking over in September.
Ronaldo’s penalty miss was particularly shocking given his perfect record of 18 successful penalties for Al-Nassr. The incident was compounded by the ball striking a young fan who was attempting to capture the moment on his phone. Videos of the boy losing his phone after the ball hit his hand went viral on social media.
The defeat is a major setback for Al-Nassr, who are now out of the King’s Cup. Ronaldo, who has yet to win a major trophy since joining the club, has come under fire for his performance. However, he has vowed to bounce back stronger.
“Every challenge is an opportunity to grow,” Ronaldo wrote on social media after the match. “We will come back stronger.”
Despite the setback, Al-Nassr still has two chances at silverware this season. They are six points behind league leaders Al-Hilal in the Saudi Pro League and have seven points from three games in the group stage of the Asian Champions League.
“Technically we performed well but we couldn’t win the game,” said Pioli. “We feel disappointed to be out of the cup. But we still have two trophies to go for and we will give our best in them.”
