Saudi Arabia's Al-Nassr could not resist the temptation to sign five-time Ballon D'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo in January, but although the prolific Portuguese forward scored an impressive number of goals, they finished the season empty-handed.
Ronaldo's hopes of silverware ended Saturday as Al-Ittihad clinched the league title for the first time since 2009 with one match to spare.
Ronaldo left Manchester United last year following an explosive television interview in which he said he felt betrayed by the club and did not respect their Dutch manager Erik ten Hag.
The 29-year-old Spaniard was on the bench for @PSG_inside as they won the @Ligue1_ENG title on Saturday https://t.co/mwbIZa3pPM
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) May 28, 2023
Al-Nassr stepped in to sign him until 2025 in a deal reportedly worth more than 200m euros ($214.61m) to make him the world's highest-paid athlete, according to Forbes.
He scored 14 goals in 16 league games but failed to net during a 1-1 draw with Al-Ettifaq Saturday in which he was substituted.
Real Madrid's all-time leading scorer failed to impress in several key matches, often taking out his frustration on his teammates.
The first trophy to slip from his grasp was the Saudi Super Cup when his team lost 3-1 to Al-Ittihad in the semi-finals in January.
"It is not easy to adapt in the first five, six or seven games. Everyone knows my movements now and I am beginning to understand the movements of the rest of the players. Step by step we can reach higher levels," Ronaldo said.
Now that @PSG_inside have completed the job of retaining the @Ligue1UberEats title, they can focus on the latest rebuilding job in the French capital, where sweeping changes are needed to the faltering Qatari project.https://t.co/qPrLSJVvX0
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) May 28, 2023
Al-Nassr suffered a heavy blow in the league race title on March 9 when they lost 1-0 to Al-Ittihad, Brazilian Romarinho scoring the winning goal and overshadowing Ronaldo.
After a draw with Al-Fayha last month, Al-Nassr sacked coach Rudi Garcia amid reports of disagreements with the players, hitting the team's hopes of winning the title for the first time since 2019.
Al-Nassr then lost 2-0 to arch-rivals Al-Hilal before a surprise 1-0 defeat by lowly Al-Wehda in the King's Cup semi-finals.
@Cristiano is on track to complete another season without winning a team championship as @AlNassrFC_EN's hopes of claiming the Saudi Pro League title came to an end Saturday.https://t.co/UBu5lei7f0
— Dhaka Tribune Sports (@Sport_DT) May 28, 2023
That left the 38-year old Ronaldo's hopes of winning a trophy dependent on Al-Ittihad stumbling in the league and that did not happen.
Al Nassr's failings were not all Ronaldo's fault, of course, although his presence appeared to affect his teammate Anderson Talisca with the Brazilian scoring 11 goals in 11 games before Ronaldo's arrival and seven in 11 alongside him.