Cristiano Ronaldo appears to skip Portugal’s tribute as Al Nassr shares images of him training in Saudi Arabia

Portugal will pay tribute to Cristiano Ronaldo on Saturday in Braga, but the guest of honor may not be there to see it. On the day of the ceremony, Al Nassr shared images of the forward training in Saudi Arabia, which suggests that he will not travel to Portugal for the match against Denmark.

The homage is the first since Ronaldo retired from the national team on Nov. 5. All of Portugal’s players are set to walk onto the pitch wearing the No. 7 shirt, and the stadium is expected to rise for a standing ovation in the seventh minute.

Al Nassr, meanwhile, shared a post showing Ronaldo at work with the club. “The calendar pauses. The work doesn’t,” read the caption, a reference to the pause in the calendar because of the international break. The message does not mention Portugal or the tribute, but it shows that he is working with his club in Saudi Arabia while the national teams play.

His presence in Braga had not been confirmed in the days leading up to the match, and there has been no official statement that rules it out. The images from Saudi Arabia, however, point toward the most likely scenario: that Ronaldo will watch the tribute from afar, after a retirement that followed tensions with coach Jorge Jesus.

What’s next for Ronaldo with Al Nassr

Ronaldo returns to club action with Al Nassr in good form. The team is third in the Saudi Pro League with 28 points after 11 matches, two behind leaders Al Hilal, and arrives unbeaten in its last five league games, with four wins and a draw. Its next challenge comes on Friday, Nov. 20, away to Al Ahli, which sits sixth with 21 points.

The match also matters for the race for the Golden Boot. Ronaldo has scored eight goals in 10 appearances, which places him third among the league’s top scorers, but the leader is precisely Al Ahli’s Ivan Toney, who has 13. A strong performance against Toney’s team could help the Portuguese forward close part of that gap.

After that trip, Al Nassr faces a busy schedule, with the AFC Champions League match against Al Sadd on Nov. 24, followed by league games against Al Hazem on Nov. 28 and Al Qadsiah on Dec. 4.

Ronaldo will have several chances to add to his tally, not only to climb the scoring chart in Saudi Arabia, but also to move closer to his personal goal of reaching 1,000 career goals, a mark that is now 15 goals away.