Cristiano Ronaldo moved past Nasser Al-Shamrani in the list of players to have scored against the most different teams in the Roshn Saudi League after netting a controversial goal for Al Nassr against Al Faisaly.
The Portugal forward, who captains Al Nassr, restored his goalscoring form during Friday’s 11th-round fixture at Al Majma’ah Sports City Stadium.
Ronaldo scored Al Nassr’s second goal in the 49th minute, heading Joao Felix’s free-kick delivery into the net.
The goal was immediately reviewed by the referee using the video assistant referee system. Al Nassr players protested during the check, while officials examined whether Ronaldo had been caught offside.
The goal was eventually awarded after the review confirmed that the forward had not strayed beyond the last defender.
However, the controversy continued on social media, where some users argued that the ball had gone in off an Al Faisaly defender rather than being scored directly by Ronaldo.
The official Roshn Saudi League website credited the goal to Ronaldo, ending the dispute over its scorer.
According to Opta statistics, Al Faisaly became the 25th different team against whom Ronaldo has scored in the Roshn Saudi League. That moved him ahead of Al Hilal great Nasser Al-Shamrani, who scored against 24 different clubs.
Only three players have scored against more teams in the competition. Salem Al-Dawsari and Omar Al Somah have each found the net against 27 opponents, while Abderrazak Hamdallah has scored against 26.
Ronaldo’s goal was also the 982nd of his career, leaving him 18 goals short of becoming the first player in football history to reach 1,000 goals.
The strike came as Ronaldo returned to the scoresheet for Al Nassr, who were playing away to Al Faisaly in the latest round of the league season.