Cristiano Ronaldo on Friday scored his 17th goal for Al Nassr in their 3-0 win over Al Kholood, opening the scoring in the match at King Abdullah Sport City Stadium in Buraydah in matchday 18 of the Saudi Pro League.
With the goal, Ronaldo is now level with Mexican Julián Quiñones, who scored his 17th goal for Al Qadsiah against Al Hilal on Thursday.
Ivan Toney, the England striker who formerly played for Brentford in the Premier League, is also in the mix to be top scorer. He has scored 18 so far this season.
Ronaldo, 40, has won the Saudi Pro League Golden Boot in two consecutive seasons.
He is also chasing a 1,000-goal career milestone and now has 961 career goals.
Two minutes into the second half, fellow Portuguese player João Félix provided an assist from the left side of the penalty area, and Cristiano Ronaldo, arriving from the center, simply tapped the ball into the net past Argentine goalkeeper Juan Pablo Cozzani.
Six minutes later, French central defender Mohamed Simakan increased Al Nassr’s lead to 2-0. And in the 27th minute, the Al Kholood’s midfielder Hatan Bahbri received a second yellow card and was sent off, leaving his team with 10 players.
Immediately afterward, Aiman Yahya replaced Ronaldo.
These two teams previously faced each other on September 14, 2025, at Al-Awwal Park, a match that ended in a 2-0 victory for Al Nassr, thanks to goals from Iñigo Martínez and Sadio Mané. This team has never lost against Al Kholood in an official match.
Ronaldo and his teammates are on a three-game winning streak, but before that, they had lost three matches and drawn one, so they are trying to maintain their momentum against one of the teams at the bottom of the table.
Al Nassr currently sit third in the table, with 40 points, six points behind Al Hilal, the sole leader, but with a game in hand. All teams will play 34 matches this season.
