Cristiano Ronaldo took a big step in the Saudi Pro League Golden Boot race with a hat-trick in Al Nassr’s 5-3 win over Al Kholood, a performance that also took him to 985 career goals. The Portuguese forward scored three times in 15 minutes after the hour mark in Round 12 at Alawwal Park, in his first match since winning the Ballon d’Or of All Time award.
Ronaldo put Al Nassr 3-2 ahead in the 66th minute with an assist from Joao Felix, added a second in the 72nd, again set up by Felix, and completed the hat-trick in the 81st minute with an assist from Sadio Mane.
The hat-trick lifts him to 7 league goals in the official standings, level with Mateo Retegui and Youssef En-Nesyri and one behind Tijjani Reijnders, who has 8. Ivan Toney remains well ahead with 12, although Ronaldo has played one more match than the Englishman, who has 9 appearances to the forward’s 10.
If the goal from the previous match against Al Faisaly is counted, Ronaldo would have 8 and would be level with Reijnders in second place, while Toney would have 13, so the gap to the top would stay at five goals.
Saudi Pro League’s top scorers according to the official website.
The goals the Saudi Pro League took away
Not every record agrees on the tally. In the 3-1 win over Al Faisaly on Oct. 23, Ronaldo headed home from a Felix free kick, but replays suggested the ball may have come off defender Andrei Girotto, and the league ultimately recorded it as an own goal.
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Toney’s case is almost identical: his header in Al Ahli’s 4-1 win over Al Khaleej was reviewed by VAR before it was confirmed, but it was later reclassified as an own goal too. The Saudi Pro League’s official website and statistics pages such as Transfermarkt currently do not credit those goals to either striker, as the table shows.
Journalists such as Fabrizio Romano, however, do credit them and report that Ronaldo reached 985 career goals with tonight’s hat-trick. Until the official records are updated, the debate over the totals will continue, both for the Golden Boot race and for Ronaldo’s march toward 1,000.
