Will Ronaldo come to Tashkent: Pakhtakor to host Al-Nassr in the Elite Champions League

The match in Tashkent and the standings

On November 2, Tashkent's Pakhtakor will host Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr at home in the 4th round of the Elite Champions League. Ahead of the head-to-head meeting, both sides sit at the bottom of the table: Al-Nassr have 3 points from two matches played, while Pakhtakor have 2 points from three games (two draws and a defeat). The Saudi club began with a heavy 0:4 defeat to Al-Ain, then beat Fergana's Neftchi 3:1, while their 3rd-round match against Al-Wasl, scheduled for October 26, was postponed indefinitely due to the unstable situation in the region. This is reported by Kun.uz.

Will Ronaldo come?

The main question ahead of the game is whether Cristiano Ronaldo will fly to Tashkent. According to Kun.uz, the poor start does not allow Al-Nassr to send a second-string squad to Tashkent, and the Saudis approached the Tashkent club's management asking whether it could fully guarantee security. At the same time, the outlet notes, whether or not the Portuguese star travels depends primarily on herself.

The precedent in Fergana

The club's concerns are not unfounded: in the 2nd-round match between Neftchi and Al-Nassr, the game kicked off an hour late due to reports of a possible missile strike from 'malicious fans'. According to sources at Kun.uz who observed the events, before kickoff the players received warning messages on their mobile phones, and Ronaldo refused to take the field. Al-Nassr's management spent almost 40 minutes convincing him that the fans had come specifically to see him and had bought tickets, but the player was reluctant to agree for a long time and only came down to the pitch an hour later, when the situation had eased. Thus, the club's management is interested in him playing in every match, but the final word rests with the player himself.

Context: the last contract and 1,000 goals

Ronaldo is 41 years old, and his contract with Al-Nassr runs until June 30, 2027 — meaning about eight months remain until it expires. In a recent interview with Vogue magazine, he said that this is his last year in football and that he wants to leave behind a beautiful legacy. He needs 18 more goals to reach the 1,000-goal mark: he has 982 goals to his name, and given his desire to score in official matches, every Al-Nassr game is a chance for him to get closer to that goal.