These are not trophies that anyone will be proud of in Europe, but in the Arab world they hold special gravitas. We are talking about the Arab Club Champions Cup, which showed us today that football in Saudi Arabia is truly growing after hundreds of millions invested in reinforcements. Cristiano Ronaldo seems to have finally caught the momentum, and with his third goal in the last three games, he pushed Al-Nassr to a 3-1 victory over Raja Casablanca and put himself in a situation where he is two games away from the first trophy after a two-year drought.To The Semi-Final 🙌 pic.twitter.com/CEFbOIZ7FV— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) August 6, 2023 The Portuguese lifted the last trophy in the 2020/2021 season when he won the Italian Cup and Super Cup as a Juventus player. He then played for Manchester United, but left before the team won the League Cup, in his first season in the Middle East, Al-Nassr finished the championship race behind Al Ittihad, but now he finally has silverware at his fingertips.And not just any, because in recent years the Arab world has been dominated by teams from North Africa, from Morocco, Tunisia, and Algeria. The Saudis have been waiting for the cup since 2005, when Al-Ittihad was on the podium. And now they managed to defeat the current champion. Ronaldo cracked the armor of the rival, (VIDEO) and then Sultan Al Ghannam (VIDEO) and former Fulham and Lens footballer Seko Fofana scored. (VIDEO)Along with the mentioned three, there are some famous names in the world of football, above all Sadio Mane, who was with Ronaldo when he celebrated the goal with his famous SIU! There were also Alex Telles, Marcelo Brozović… Quite enough to upset the balance in the Arab world.##NAJAVA_MECA_7414884##To make things even better for the sheiks with sacks of petrodollars, they will have at least one more representative in the semi-finals, because Al Hilal of Sergej Milinković Savić, Ruben Neves and Malcom is waiting for the better one from the duel between another Saudi club, Al Shabaab, and Al Wahda from the United Arab Emirates.Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr will play Al Shorta. And then maybe in the final – Ronaldo against SMS, Koulibaly, Neves & Co. Judging by the strength of the teams, that would be the most realistic.Now is the time of Saudi domination. After all, in the group stage, Ronaldo shook the nets of Egyptian giants Zamalek, and before that, Monastir from Tunisia.
