What are we to make of Cristiano Ronaldo's tears? Al Nassr-Al Hilal gave us an iconic image
Cristiano Ronaldo is sitting on the bench. He is barely holding back tears as he stares blankly into space, sinking into his sadness. We are in Saudi Arabia. Al Nassr have just missed the chance to celebrate winning the Saudi league title with one matchday to spare because of a shocking mistake by goalkeeper Bento, which cost them a draw against Al Hilal. A colossal blunder in which he somehow knocked the ball into his own net following a throw-in during the eighth minute of stoppage time.
Why the Saudi Pro League project failed
It is difficult to make sense of this image. First of all because, after the chaos generated in the summer of 2023 — when every single transfer market rumour seemed to lead to Saudi Arabia — the project has failed. Nobody truly became interested in the Saudi league. Every now and then it appears on our social media feeds, but it never became the centre of the football world the way it had been sold during those weeks.
Today, our attention towards the Saudi Pro League is only captured by moments like this one, when Schadenfreude takes over and we find satisfaction in watching players we know — players we may even have labelled as washed precisely because they moved to Saudi Arabia — fail. And the image of Cristiano Ronaldo crying on the bench, despite his team still sitting top of the table with one game left and their destiny still in their own hands, is the purest embodiment of that feeling.
While Lionel Messi continues to break records in MLS with Inter Miami, Ronaldo cannot seem to win a league title in a competition that is not only considered uncompetitive, but has not even managed to develop an aesthetic identity of its own, remaining stuck where it was two years ago. In this context of stylistic and competitive poverty, the harder Ronaldo tries to win, the more spectacularly he seems to fail. A scenario he himself fuels through his usual outbursts towards fans and teammates alike.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s tears still reveal his competitive obsession
At the same time, Cristiano Ronaldo’s tears could lead us towards another reflection. What if he genuinely cares? What if Cristiano Ronaldo truly cares about winning the league in Saudi Arabia? If that is the case, why are we unable to empathise with him? Of course, we all live in a universe light-years away from Ronaldo’s: we do not share his cult of self, nor do we own a hyperbaric chamber to speed up recovery. But once those aspects are stripped away, all that remains is the footballer, and his emotions deserve respect.
He could have done what dozens of players who left Europe for Saudi Arabia have done: enjoy the millions and abandon any real ambition to win. Instead, he is still there trying to put every ball that comes his way into the back of the net in order to reach the milestone of 1000 career goals, the last true objective of his career. Perhaps the one achievement that will ultimately define his legacy more than the Champions League trophies won with Manchester United and Real Madrid, and even more than a potential — however unlikely — victory at the 2026 World Cup with Portugal. At 41 years old, Cristiano Ronaldo is sitting on the bench in despair because he could not celebrate winning his first title in Saudi Arabia in front of his own fans. It is a grotesque and paradoxical scene, yet it tells us more than many other episodes ever could about the competitive spirit that has fuelled his entire career.