Virus-Hit Cristiano Ronaldo to Miss Al Nassr’s Asian Champions League 2024 Elite Opener Against Al Shorta
Cristiano Ronaldo will miss Al Nassr’s Asian Champions League Elite opening this week, due to a viral virus, the club said on Sunday.
The Portuguese star will miss the match against Al Shorta of Iraq after being diagnosed with the sickness. Al Nassr is devastated by this loss because Ronaldo has played a key role in the team’s quest for Asia’s greatest football title.
Due to a viral infection that was discovered on Sunday, Cristiano Ronaldo will not play in Al Nassr’s Asian Champions League opening this week against Al Shorta in Iraq. As the competition begins on Monday, the Portuguese veteran hopes to add the top club title in Asia to his already impressive list of accomplishments. “Al Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo was not feeling well today and was diagnosed with a viral infection,” the club announced on Sunday in a statement that was shared on social networking site X.
“He needs to rest and stay at home, the team doctor has verified. He won’t be going to Iraq with the team today as a result. We hope for a quick recovery for our leader.”
Earlier this year, the former forward for Real Madrid and Manchester United lost to eventual champions Al Ain in a penalty shootout during his first game with Saudi side Al Nassr.
Al Nassr and the other Saudi teams will pose a serious danger now that they are known as the Asian Champions League Elite, having recently spent enormous sums of money on players like Neymar and Ronaldo.
When he moved from Brentford to Al Ahli last month for a fee above $45 million, England forward Ivan Toney became the most well-known figure to leave Europe for Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Arabia, which is slated to host the 2034 World Cup, will hold a small knockout tournament as part of the revamped competition to determine the winners, who will get at least $12 million. The competition will begin in the quarterfinals.
With a new system that divides 24 teams evenly into two groups of East and West, the Champions League Elite will debut on Monday. Teams participating include Al Nassr, Al Ahli, and Neymar’s Al Hilal. In the group stage, each team will face eight different opponents.
Before the action advances to the final stages in Saudi Arabia from April 25 to May 4, the top eight teams from each zone will compete in the last 16 over two legs in March.
Injured Neymar missing
Saudi champions Al Hilal are hoping to win a fifth Asian championship, setting a new record, but they are still awaiting the comeback of Brazilian star Neymar, who hasn’t played since sustaining a major knee injury in the previous season.
Al Hilal added Portugal full-back Joao Cancelo from Manchester City to their roster, which already included Ruben Neves, Aleksandar Mitrovic, and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
Al Hilal will be without the 39-year-old Ronaldo for the first game on Monday in Bagdad; however, Sadio Mane, Aymeric Laporte, and Marcelo Brozovic are still available.
In the May final, the United Arab Emirates’ Al Ain, the reigning champions, defeated Japan’s Yokohama F-Marinos over two legs under the guidance of legendary Argentine coach Hernan Crespo.
Al Ain is one of two UAE teams competing in this year’s event; the other teams in the West Zone are from Qatar, Iran, Uzbekistan, and Iraq.
Japan’s clubs have achieved the finest results in the East lately, and Yokohama is back in the Champions League to lead their charge.
Due in large part to his team’s dismal domestic performance, former Leeds and Liverpool star Harry Kewell was fired as coach after taking them to the championship game the previous season.
Japan is represented by Kawasaki Frontale and Vissel Kobe, while South Korea is represented by debutants Gwangju, twice-champion Ulsan, and three-time champion Pohang Steelers.
Although the purchasing power of Chinese teams has long ago dried up, Shanghai Port, who are coached by Australian Kevin Muscat, still have former Chelsea attacker Oscar on their roster.
In the East League stage, one club each from Australia, Thailand, and Malaysia is competing, together with Shandong Taishan and Shanghai Shenhua from China.
