Man Utd flop beats Ronaldo to Saudi Pro League team of the season

Tom Weber

• Updated: 9 Jun 2023 18:36 BST
• 3 min read

Cristiano Ronaldo is a shock omission from the Saudi Pro League team of the season.

The former Manchester United man arrived at Al-Nassr to plenty of fanfare and despite missing out on the Saudi Pro League title to Al-Ittihad, he enjoyed a very prolific first season. The January arrival finished the campaign with 14 goals in just 16 appearances.

This was, however, not enough to get into the Saudi Pro League team of the season. The Portuguese megastar is conspicuously absent from the league's best eleven, although you can understand why: Odion Ighalo, who leads the line, hit 19 goals in 29 games in the bygone season.

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Nevertheless, Ronaldo's absence is very surprising indeed considering his goals-per-game ratio is much better. Despite his goalscoring exploits, Ighalo - like Ronaldo a former Manchester United player - experienced a disappointing season by Al-Hilal's lofty standards as the Riyadh giants only finished third and lost the Asian Champions League final to Urawa Reds of Japan.

Assessing the team of the season

Other prominent inclusions in the Pro League team of the season are former Bayern man Luiz Gustavo, one of Ronaldo's teammates, and Kaku, who once made headlines with the New York Red Bulls when he kicked the ball straight into an opposition fan's face. Oh, and one of his agents also once compared the Red Bulls to Adolf Hitler, while a different one was sued by the New Jersey side when he signed for Al-Taawoun.

Ronaldo's teammate Talisca is another conspicuous absence from the best eleven considering he scored 20 goals in just 23 games. Golden boot winner Abderrazak Hamdallah of champions Al-Ittihad didn't make it in either - his teammate Romarinho, on the other hand, did make it despite scoring just 13 goals.

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Unsurprisingly, then, this team of the season garnered plenty of ridicule on social media. As for Ronaldo, he has voiced his intention of staying in Saudi Arabia and he will look to lead Al-Nassr to the title in what is set to be a star-studded Pro League next season.