Due to a viral illness 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. "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 relax 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 attacker for Real Madrid and Manchester United lost to eventual champions Al Ain in a penalty shootout during his debut 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 have 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 clubs evenly into two groups of East and West, the Champions League Elite will debut on Monday. clubs participating include Al Nassr, Al Ahli, and Neymar's Al Hilal.
Saudi champions Al Hilal are hoping to win a sixth 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.
