Ronaldo scored three goals in 15 second-half minutes as Al-Nassr beat Al-Kholood 5-3, leaving him 15 short of 1,000 career goals.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a hat-trick on Thursday as Al-Nassr beat Al-Kholood 5-3 in the Saudi Pro League at Al-Awwal Park. The score was 2-2 at half-time, and Ronaldo took control after the restart. His three goals came in the 66th, 72nd and 81st minutes.
The first half was full of goals. Julien Domingues gave Al-Kholood the lead after 16 minutes, and Ângelo Gabriel levelled for Al-Nassr. Sadio Mané put Al-Nassr ahead in the 38th minute, but Antoine Essomba equalised in first-half stoppage time. Daily Post reports that two first-half goals by Ronaldo were ruled offside, one of them after a VAR review.
João Félix, his Portugal team-mate, had four assists on the night, including the passes for the 66th- and 72nd-minute goals, and Mané set up the 81st-minute strike. Domingues scored a stoppage-time penalty for Al-Kholood, but it was not enough to stop the 5-3 defeat.
Ronaldo wrote on X after the game, and the message was short:
"Great win, great team performance. Happy to help with a hat-trick!"
Ronaldo is already the leading goalscorer in the sport's history, 49 ahead of second-placed Lionel Messi on 936. He now has 67 career hat-tricks across club and country: 44 for Real Madrid, 10 for Portugal, seven for Al-Nassr, and three each for Manchester United and Juventus.
Al-Nassr are second in the Saudi Pro League on 28 points, although BBC Sport notes they have a game in hand on leaders Al-Qadsiah. Ronaldo has spent almost four years at the club.
The 1,000-goal target is already being debated. Speaking on the programme Doreena Ghair, Saudi and Al-Hilal goalkeeping legend Mohamed Al-Deayea set Ronaldo a condition: "If Ronaldo does not score 15 goals before the winter period, he will not break the 1,000-goal barrier." Goal reports that he also took a sarcastic dig at Saudi defences: "Ronaldo will reach a thousand goals as long as we have teams with defences like this."
Ronaldo has one year left on his contract. In August, he said it was "probably" his last year playing.
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