Cristiano Ronaldo will not play in Al Nassr vs Pakhtakor in the AFC Champions League Elite on November 2. Coach Postecoglou said he rested Ronaldo, Kingsley Coman, and Mohamed Simakan "given the pressure of matches and the amount of travel involved." The team currently sits ninth in the western zone group.
Cristiano Ronaldo has been a regular for Al-Nassr, and has nine goals in 12 appearances for the club this season.
Al Nassr will return to the continental stage after nearly a month when it takes on Uzbek side Pakhtakor in the AFC Champions League Elite in Tashkent on Monday.
Al Nassr's previous tournament match, against Al Wassl, was postponed due to regional tensions around Saudi Arabia, but the club continued its domestic campaign, beating Al Kholood 5-3 in the Saudi Pro League. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick in that match as he edged closer to the 1000-goal mark in his career.
Naturally, the question arose of whether he will continue playing regularly in Al-Nassr's next match.
Will Cristiano Ronaldo play in Al Nassr vs Pakhtakor in the AFC Champions League Elite?
No, Ronaldo will not play in Al Nassr vs Pakhtakor in the AFC Champions League Elite 2026-27 on November 2.
Postecoglou, a former head coach of Tottenham Hotspur and of Australia, told a news conference in Uzbekistan he'd rested Ronaldo, Kingsley Coman and Mohamed Simakan "given the pressure of matches and the amount of travel involved."
Ronaldo has been a regular in Al-Nassr's starting lineup, and has nine goals in 12 appearances for the club this season. His last week's hat-trick took his tally to 985 career goals, just 15 short of a record four figures.
Ronaldo also had a rest last week when Al-Wasl of the United Arab Emirates declined to travel to Riyadh for a Champions League game, prompting the Asian Football Confederation to postpone the match. Al-Nassr's previous home game in the tournament on October 12 had been delayed by an hour after reports of missile attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.
Al-Nassr, aiming for a first-ever Asian title, has made a slow start and is ninth in the western zone group, the lowest-ranked of the Saudi league's five representatives in the 32-team tournament.
The continental championship is split into two groups of 16 -- east and west -- with the top eight in each advancing to the knockout stage.
"Despite the difficult start, the preparation conditions, and the lack of complete readiness at the beginning of the season, we have now reached an excellent stage," Postecoglou added.