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Journalism of Courage
Every once in a while, Cristiano Ronaldo gives hints about how his days as an active footballer are numbered and he has maybe one or two years left in the game. The 40-year-old showed on Sunday night that while retirement thoughts kept circling in his mind, on the pitch, his instincts and the ability to produce jaw-dropping moments were still intact.
The Portuguese star produced arguably the best goal of his club career while playing for Al-Nassr FC in the Saudi Pro League match against Al Khaleej on Sunday, timing a bicycle kick to perfection to send the fans at the venue and on social media into a delirium.
The goal came in the sixth minute of stoppage time when a cross from right-back Nawaf Boushal and Ronaldo timed his jump to perfection before acrobatically volleying the ball into the back of the net. The 40-year-old then sprinted to perform his trademark celebration, “SIUUU” celebration and end the night on a high for his side.
After the match, Ronaldo shared the bicycle kick video on X (formerly Twitter) and urged fans to share their best captions for the goal.
It was Ronaldo’s 954th career goal and was reminiscent of his strike against Juventus while playing for Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League quarter-final in Turin. In that game, the cross again came from a right-back – Dani Carvajal – and Ronaldo volleyed the ball superbly into the back of the net.
“It is one of the most beautiful goals in the history of the game,” the then Real Madrid manager Zinedine Zidane had said about the goal.
“Well, for me it was an unbelievable moment. I have to say thank you a lot – grazie – to all the Juventus supporters. What they did for me was amazing. I’m so happy – thank you. It had never happened to me in my career before,” Ronaldo had said after the match.
