<p><a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tag/cristiano-ronaldo/"><strong>Cristiano Ronaldo</strong></a> helped bring an end to <strong>Al Nassr</strong>’s losing streak last Saturday with a controversial yet thrilling 3-2 home win over <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tag/al-shabab/"><strong>Al Shabab</strong></a>. While the visitors filed a formal complaint over the referee’s performance, <strong>the Portuguese star delivered an encouraging message to his teammates and supporters</strong>.</p>



<p><a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/tag/al-nassr/"><strong>Al Nassr</strong></a> struck early, opening the scoring in the second minute after Saad Balobaid turned the ball into his own net, with Ronaldo nearly getting a touch on the play, before <strong>Kingsley Coman</strong> doubled the lead in the eighth minute. Al Shabab responded through an own goal by Mohamed Simakan and a strike from Carlos Carvalho, but <strong>Vincent Sierro’s red card shifted the momentum, and Abdulrahman Ghareeb netted the winner in the 76th minute</strong>.</p>



<p>After Saturday’s victory, Ronaldo, who did not register a goal or an assist but played the full 90 minutes, took to social media to address the result: “<em><strong>Proud of this team. We did what we needed to do. Thank you to the fans for supporting us all the way!</strong></em>“</p>



<p>The start of 2026 has been a difficult stretch for Al Nassr after recording the best opening run in Saudi Pro League history earlier in the season. The year began with a <strong>3-2 loss to Al Ahli</strong> on January 2, followed by a <strong>2-1 defeat to Al Qadsiah</strong> on January 8, before <strong>Al Hilal completed a 3-1 comeback</strong> last week to extend their lead at the top of the table.</p>



<div class="ck-instagram"><blockquote class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/DToBL5vAGoB/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14" style="background:#FFF;border:0;border-radius:3px;margin: 1px;max-width:540px;min-width:326px;padding:0;width:99.375%;width:-webkit-calc(100% - 2px);width:calc(100% - 2px)"><div style="padding:16px"> <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DToBL5vAGoB/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="background:#FFFFFF;line-height:0;padding:0 0;text-align:center;text-decoration:none;width:100%" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> <div style="flex-direction: row;align-items: center"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 50%;flex-grow: 0;height: 40px;margin-right: 14px;width: 40px"></div> <div style="flex-direction: column;flex-grow: 1;justify-content: center"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;margin-bottom: 6px;width: 100px"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;width: 60px"></div></div></div><div style="padding: 19% 0"></div> <div style="height:50px;margin:0 auto 12px;width:50px"></div><div style="padding-top: 8px"> <div style="color:#3897f0;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:550;line-height:18px">View this post on Instagram</div></div><div style="padding: 12.5% 0"></div> <div style="flex-direction: row;margin-bottom: 14px;align-items: center"><div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 50%;height: 12.5px;width: 12.5px"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4;height: 12.5px;width: 12.5px;flex-grow: 0;margin-right: 14px;margin-left: 2px"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 50%;height: 12.5px;width: 12.5px"></div></div><div style="margin-left: 8px"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 50%;flex-grow: 0;height: 20px;width: 20px"></div> <div style="width: 0;height: 0;border-top: 2px solid transparent;border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4;border-bottom: 2px solid transparent"></div></div><div style="margin-left: auto"> <div style="width: 0px;border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4;border-right: 8px solid transparent"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4;flex-grow: 0;height: 12px;width: 16px"></div> <div style="width: 0;height: 0;border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4;border-left: 8px solid transparent"></div></div></div> <div style="flex-direction: column;flex-grow: 1;justify-content: center;margin-bottom: 24px"> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;margin-bottom: 6px;width: 224px"></div> <div style="background-color: #F4F4F4;border-radius: 4px;flex-grow: 0;height: 14px;width: 144px"></div></div></a><p style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;line-height:17px;margin-bottom:0;margin-top:8px;overflow:hidden;padding:8px 0 7px;text-align:center"><a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DToBL5vAGoB/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" style="color:#c9c8cd;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:14px;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;line-height:17px;text-decoration:none" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano)</a></p></div></blockquote></div>




<p>With the win over Al Shabab, <strong>Al Nassr remain second in the 2025-26 Saudi Pro League standings with 34 points from 15 matches</strong>, seven behind leaders Al Hilal. They return to action on Wednesday the 21st against 15th-place Damac, a key opportunity for Ronaldo and company to regain momentum.</p>


        <div class="wp_fsn_relatedlinks" id="WST#/news/cristiano-ronaldos-nightmare-scenario-continues-al-nassr-hit-by-major-setback-after-losing-five-vital-players-for-saudi-pro-league-clash-against-al-shabab/"></div>


<h2>Al Shabab and the complaint toward the referee</h2>



<p>Despite surrendering an early two-goal deficit, Al Shabab showed resilience by leveling the match at Al Awwal Park in another hard-fought outing for Al Nassr. The turning point came in the 67th minute when <strong>Vincent Sierro received a second yellow card for a contested foul on Coman</strong>, leaving his side down to 10 men and paving the way for the hosts’ winner.</p>



<p>After the match, Al Shabab released a statement addressing their complaint over the officiating: “<em>The Al Shabab Club administration expresses its strong condemnation and regret regarding the repeated and impactful refereeing errors that have plagued the team’s matches in the Saudi Professional League recently. <strong>These errors have affected several matches</strong>, most notably the game against Al-Taawoun, <strong>in addition to the mistakes that occurred in today’s match against Al-Nassr, which directly altered the course and outcome of the game</strong>.</em></p>



<p>In a refereeing climate that Ronaldo has also criticized in recent weeks, including allegations involving Al Hilal, Al Shabab concluded its statement by announcing further action: “<em><strong>Accordingly, the club’s management will submit an official letter to the Referees Committee</strong> requesting that the team’s upcoming matches not be assigned to any refereeing teams that have previously been the subject of objections by the club.</em>“</p>

Cristiano Ronaldo sends encouraging message to Al Nassr after losing streak ends amid Al Shabab referee complaint

Cristiano Ronaldo sends encouraging message to Al Nassr after losing streak ends amid Al Shabab referee complaint - World Soccer Talk

destacadas


<p>Al-Shabab, a team in Saudi Arabia, is close to hiring Chelsea legend John Terry as its next manager.</p>



<p>Since retiring as a player, Terry has worked as an assistant coach at <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/aston-villa-tv-schedule">Aston Villa</a>, Leicester City, and now for the Blues’ academy, where he brings a wealth of knowledge. But he has never been in charge as a head coach before.</p>



<p>Now, with Marcel Keizer’s resignation on Thursday, the Englishman is among the leading candidates for the Al-Shabab position. After just six weeks in command, the club fired the Dutch manager after a dismal start to the season. Al-Shabab won just two of its first five league games.</p>



<h2>John Terry agrees to deal in principle with Saudi Arabia club</h2>



<p>The club named former Argentina U-23 and Ismaily manager Juan Brown as the team’s temporary coach. Now, the attention of Al-Shabab shifted to John Terry.</p>



<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter"><div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<div class="ck-twitter"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">John Terry is on the verge of joining Saudi side Al-Shabab FC as their new manager 🇸🇦 <a href="https://t.co/u6LR0p58vn">pic.twitter.com/u6LR0p58vn</a></p>— Sky Sports News (@SkySportsNews) <a href="https://twitter.com/SkySportsNews/status/1699687719218094125?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2023</a></blockquote></div><script async="" src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
</div></figure>



<p><a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/23841354/john-terry-saudi-pro-league-manager/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">The Sun</a> reports the Middle Eastern side contacted Terry two months ago. The two agreed on a contract in principle. Terry, who is 42, earned a contract with a minimum term of two years. He has an option for four years at Al-Shabab. and a contract has now been agreed upon in principle.</p>



<p>The report adds that <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/teams/chelsea-tv-schedule/">Chelsea</a>, which he has dedicated so much time and energy to over the years would let him quit his current position to pursue opportunities in Saudi Arabia.</p>



<p>There, he would meet Steven Gerrard, his former colleague with the English national team and now the manager of Al-Ettifaq. The Liverpool great is just one of several former Premier League players who have found success in Saudi Arabia.&nbsp;</p>



<h5>Who is Al-Shabab?</h5>



<p>Al-Shabab has been in contact with many notable managers. For example, it contacted former Paris Saint-Germain boss Christophe Galtier. In the <a href="https://worldsoccertalk.com/news/is-saudi-arabia-threat-to-uefa-aleksander-ceferin-clears-air-20230903-WST-453859.html">Saudi Pro League</a>, Shabab is not one of the powerhouse teams controlled by the Public Investment Fund (PIF). However, a number of high-profile players have joined the Riyadh club, including the Belgian international Yannick Carrasco.</p>



<p><em>PHOTO: IMAGO / News Images</em></p>


Chelsea legend John Terry set for coaching role in Saudi Arabia

After serving as a consultant in Chelsea's youth program, Terry is expected to be promoted to his first management position since retiring.

Latest news from Al-Shabab. Find out about all the news related to Al-Shabab on worldsoccertalk.com

ALL POSTS TAGGED "Al-Shabab"

News

Cristiano Ronaldo sends encouraging message to Al Nassr after losing streak ends amid Al Shabab referee complaint

Chelsea

Chelsea legend John Terry set for coaching role in Saudi Arabia