Ronaldo hits 15-minute hat-trick for Al-Nassr, moves 15 shy of 1,000 goals

Ronaldo struck in the 66th, 72nd and 81st minutes to seal a 5-3 win for Al Nassr and leave himself only 15 goals shy of a 1,000 career goals.

Cristiano Ronaldo's pursuit of 1,000 career goals received a massive surge on Thursday night as he powered Al Nassr's 5-3 win over Al-Kholood Club with a stunning 15-minute hat-trick in the second half at the King Saud University Stadium.

The 41-year-old Portuguese superstar helped Al-Nassr move past a 2-2 tie, scoring in the 66th, 72nd, and 81st minutes to seal the win and leave himself just 15 goals shy of 1,000 career goals.

"Great win, great team performance. Happy to help with a hat-trick!" wrote Ronaldo on social media after the win.

After two disallowed goals earlier in the game, Ronaldo extended his lead over long-time rival Lionel Messi (936) on the career goals tally to 49.

Julien Domingues put Al Kholood ahead in the 16th minute, but Al Nassr quickly responded with an equaliser from Angelo Gabriel. Sadio Mané then put Al Nassr ahead, but Antoine Essomba drew Al Kholood level in first-half stoppage time.

From there on, Ronaldo took over the contest. The former Real Madrid forward struck twice from close range and added a header to secure his seventh hat-trick for Al Nassr since arriving in Saudi Arabia in 2023. The performance pushed his career total to an incredible 67 hat-tricks for club and country -- including 44 for Real Madrid, 10 for Portugal, seven for Al Nassr, and three each for Manchester United and Juventus.

Earlier in the day, Ronaldo had won the "Ballon d'Or of All Time," or B.O.A.T., award, pipping Messi after a month of public online voting. Ronaldo won the award for his 2007/08 season, where he won his first Ballon d'Or after helping Manchester United win the Premier League as well as the Champions League with 42 goals in all competitions. Messi, meanwhile, finished second for his 2012 Ballon d'Or win.

Earlier this month, Ronaldo, meanwhile, was fined by the Portuguese football federation for walking out of the national team's camp. Ronaldo was fined $285 (255 euros and approximately Rs 27,000) and suspended from the national team for 30 days.

According to a report by the Associated Press, the suspension began on October 1, the day of Portugal's game against Denmark, which means that he has served 19 days of the suspension already. Thus, Ronaldo is expected to be available for Portugal's next Nations League match on November 14 against Denmark.