Fifteen minutes of magic at Al-Awwal Park
With the score locked at 2-2 past the hour mark, Al Nassr needed something special. Then came the Ronaldo hat-trick Al Nassr’s title charge needed: the first goal in the 66th minute, teed up by João Félix; another in the 72nd, again created by the Portuguese playmaker; and the hat-trick sealed in the 81st minute to send the yellow-clad home crowd into delirium. Another Ronaldo hat-trick Al Nassr supporters will remember for years, delivered when the pressure was highest.
Cristiano Ronaldo in action for Al Nassr during the AFC Champions League tie against Persepolis in September 2023. (File photo)
First-half drama: five goals and two disallowed
The night had already been a goal fest before Ronaldo’s second-half show. Julien Domingues fired Al Kholood ahead in the 16th minute, Ângelo levelled in the 24th, and Sadio Mané put the hosts 2-1 up in the 38th — only for Loïc Essomba to make it 2-2 deep into first-half stoppage time.
Ronaldo thought he had scored twice before the break, only to see both efforts chalked off for offside — one of them after a lengthy VAR check. The frustration made what followed sweeter: the Ronaldo hat-trick Al Nassr deserved on the night simply had to wait until the second half.
Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates in Al Nassr colours during the 2023 season, in which he won his first Saudi Pro League Golden Boot. (File photo)
Al Kholood refused to go quietly, with Domingues converting a penalty in the fourth minute of added time to make it 5-3. But by then the points were long secured, and the story of the night belonged to one man.
João Félix writes Saudi Pro League history
While Ronaldo grabbed the headlines, João Félix produced a performance that entered the record books in its own right. The Portugal international supplied FOUR assists in a single Saudi Pro League match — only the third player in league history to do so, after Youssef El Gharbi in 2011 and Moussa Diaby in 2024.
Félix laid on both of Ronaldo’s first two goals, the partnership between the two Portuguese stars clicking to devastating effect. Without Félix’s creativity, the Ronaldo hat-trick Al Nassr celebrated might never have happened — a reminder that even at 41, the great man thrives on world-class service.
Cristiano Ronaldo in action for Al Nassr against Persepolis in the AFC Champions League, September 2023. (File photo)
985 and counting — the road to 1,000 goals
The treble took Ronaldo to 985 senior career goals — the total widely credited and reported by journalists including Fabrizio Romano — leaving him just 15 away from 1,000. An honest note: the Saudi Pro League’s official record-keepers may not credit him with every one of those 985, as World Soccer Talk has pointed out. What nobody disputes is the 67th career hat-trick, a figure that stands utterly alone in football history.
Ronaldo celebrated the win on X, calling it a “great team performance” as tributes poured in from across the football world. For more on the Ronaldo hat-trick Al Nassr night that lit up Riyadh, see Sportskeeda’s report on Ronaldo’s reaction and World Soccer Talk’s report on Félix’s historic assists.
Cristiano Ronaldo in Al Nassr colours during his Saudi Pro League career, where he has twice won the Golden Boot. (File photo)
Title race heats up — and Pakistan can’t look away
The victory lifted Al Nassr to 28 points, level with Al-Qadsiah at the summit, with Al-Hilal just a point behind. The Saudi title race is becoming a three-way battle, and Ronaldo’s red-hot form — sealed by the Ronaldo hat-trick Al Nassr fans witnessed on Thursday — makes the Riyadh giants the team to fear. Next up is an AFC Champions League trip to face Pakhtakor on 2 November.
The story is trending in Pakistan, too. Google Trends data for 30 October 2026 shows “al-nassr vs al kholood” among the country’s biggest football searches, with more than 20,000 searches — proof that Pakistani fans are following every step of Ronaldo’s march towards 1,000 goals.
For more on the Portuguese superstar, read our Cristiano Ronaldo biography and records guide and our Al Nassr AFC Champions League campaign coverage. As this Ronaldo hat-trick Al Nassr masterclass showed, the 41-year-old is nowhere near finished — and the chase for 1,000 will keep Pakistan’s football fans glued to every match.
Cristiano Ronaldo during his record-breaking spell in Saudi Arabia, now closing in on 1,000 career goals. (File photo)
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