Cristiano Ronaldo’s AFC Champions League Golden Boot bid starts scoreless as three players share the early lead

Cristiano Ronaldo endured a rough start to his third AFC Champions League Elite campaign with Al Nassr, going scoreless as Ange Postecoglou’s side were thrashed 4-0 by Al Ain in their Matchday 1 opener.

Ronaldo, wearing the captain’s armband, struggled to make an impact throughout and saw a late free kick saved, leaving him without a goal to show from the club’s heaviest defeat since his arrival in Saudi Arabia.

While Ronaldo went without a goal, the race for the competition’s Golden Boot already has three players tied at the top after the opening round. Aleksandar Cavric put on a show for Kashima Antlers, scoring a first-half hat-trick in a 7-1 rout of Newcastle Jets.

Prince Ampem, on loan at Shanghai Port from Eyupspor, also struck three times inside the opening 45 minutes as his side won a thriller away at Ratchaburi. That same wild match in Thailand produced the tournament’s third hat-trick, with Njiva Rakotoharimalala coming off the bench for Ratchaburi and scoring three times in the final 20 minutes, including a goal in stoppage time, in a losing effort as Shanghai Port ultimately won 6-4.

A tough opener given his history in the competition

The scoreless outing is a particularly rough way for Ronaldo to begin this campaign, given his track record in the competition. Across his first two seasons with Al Nassr, Ronaldo scored 14 goals and added two assists in 17 AFC Champions League Elite appearances.

Opening his third campaign with a blank and a lopsided defeat is, in that context, about as poor a start as he could have had to this year’s Golden Boot race, especially with Cavric, Ampem and Rakotoharimalala already three goals clear of him after just one matchday.

Ronaldo and Al Nassr will now have seven more matchdays to close that early gap, starting with a home fixture against FK Neftchi Fergana on October 12, as they look to rebuild both their group stage position and their captain’s Golden Boot chances.