The Saudi newspaper “Al-Riyadhiyah” revealed that Al-Nasr coach Stefano Pioli decided to exclude Cristiano Ronaldo from the match against Esteghlal Tehran in the first leg of the round of 16 of the AFC Champions League for the elite.
The Portuguese Don is in excellent physical condition, and played in the last Al-Orouba match that ended with Al-Nasr’s 2-1 defeat, which made many link this loss to the decision to exclude him against Esteghlal.
However, according to the latest report, the reason for excluding Ronaldo from traveling to the Iranian capital is “purely security-related”.
Al-Nasr asked the Asian Federation to move the match to a neutral stadium instead of the Azadi Stadium in Tehran, due to the difficulty of securing Ronaldo in Iran due to his overwhelming popularity there and what could expose him to imminent danger.
The Asian Federation rejected the idea, which ultimately forced Al-Nasr to make the decision to keep the 40-year-old in Riyadh and not risk traveling with him to Iran.
Ronaldo will join the list of absentees from Al-Nassr, which is full of injured players, the latest of whom is Abdulrahman Gharib, and which also includes Aymeric Laporte, Ali Lajmi, Otavio, Abdullah Al-Khaibari and Sultan Al-Ghannam.
It is worth noting that Ronaldo has scored 6 goals in 5 matches in the AFC Champions League for the Elite this season, which will make his absence influential even if John Duran is present to replace him as expected.
