Ronaldo suffers heaviest defeat as Al Ain rout Al Nassr 4-0

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Cristiano Ronaldo suffered his heaviest defeat since joining Al Nassr as Al Ain thrashed the Saudi Pro League champions 4-0 in their opening AFC Champions League Elite fixture in the United Arab Emirates on Tuesday.

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The defeat marked a nightmare return to Asia’s top club competition for Al Nassr, who were undone by a brace from Houssine Rahimi and further goals from his brother Soufiane Rahimi and Giorgos Giakoumakis.

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Houssine opened the scoring in the 25th minute after capitalising on Saad Al-Nasser’s under-hit back-pass before doubling Al Ain’s advantage in the 63rd minute.

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Soufiane then made it 3-0 in the 72nd minute, running onto Alejandro Romero’s through ball before firing into the bottom corner.

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Giakoumakis completed the rout five minutes from time after Soufiane turned provider, rolling the ball into the path of the Greek forward, who converted from close range.

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The result was Ronaldo’s heaviest defeat since his move to Al Nassr, according to reports following the match.

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The Portuguese forward, who started alongside new Al Nassr signing João Félix, was unable to prevent his side from suffering a comprehensive defeat.

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The loss also revived memories of Al Ain’s previous meeting with Al Nassr in the 2023/24 AFC Champions League. Al Ain eliminated Ronaldo’s side at the quarter-final stage after the tie ended 4-4 on aggregate, winning the decisive penalty shootout 3-1 in Riyadh.

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Al Ain’s Giakoumakis said his side had expected a difficult contest.

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“We knew it was going to be tough, we had to give it our all and I think we did that,” he said.

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“We were really mature from the first to the last moment and we managed to score a good amount of goals and have a good victory.”

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The defeat leaves Al Nassr without a point after the opening round of the 2026/27 AFC Champions League Elite league phase, while Al Ain begin their campaign with three points.

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The expanded league phase features 16 teams, with the top eight advancing to the knockout rounds. The quarter-finals, semi-finals and final are scheduled to be played in Saudi Arabia in March, April and May.

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