UEFA is considering inviting Cristiano Ronaldo’s club Al Nassr to next season’s Champions League, reports from Saudi Arabia have claimed.
Last week, Ronaldo scored his 13th goal of the season in the Saudi Super League as Al Nassr beat Al Wehda 3-1 to move within four points of table leaders Al Hilal.
While the five-time Ballon d’Or winner has been in electric form this season, his performances have been far from dazzling a large contingent of European supporters.
However, this may not be the case for long. According to Saudi journalist AlHarbi44, UEFA is considering inviting Al Nassr to the 2024/2025 edition of the Champions League.
According to the journalist, the reasoning for this is that Al Nassr is considered among the “three most famous clubs in the world” and has “great popularity” among European fans.
Indeed, Ronaldo is arguably the most impressive player in Champions League history and would welcome Al Nassr’s involvement in the competition.
The Portuguese, who was the first player to win the Champions League on five occasions, has also made more appearances in the competition and scored more goals (140) than any other player in the elite tournament.
This is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Ronaldo’s records in Europe’s premier competition.
Having been named the Champions League top scorer on seven occasions, Ronaldo has also scored 67 goals in the knockout stages of the tournament, scored in three finals and is the only player to score in 11 consecutive Champions League games.
Next season, the Champions League group stage will be scrapped and instead, 36 teams will be in one big league table.
The top eight places in the final table will go directly to the Round of 16, while those positioned from ninth to 24th will enter the ‘play-off’ to win the other eight places in the round the 1/8th. Positions 25-36 are eliminated from the European competition.