Cristiano Ronaldo has revealed it is likely Al Nassr will be the final club of his football career and that he has no plans to become a coach when his playing days are over.
The 39-year-old has just kicked off his third Saudi Pro League season and 24th of a remarkable career that has seen him play for Sporting Lisbon, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Juventus and Nassr.
In that time, Ronaldo has scored more than 750 goals and won the Ballon d'Or five times as well as securing league titles in England, Spain and Italy.
A first trophy since moving to the kingdom still eludes him, though, with Nassr twice finishing second in the SPL, first behind Al Ittihad and then Al Hilal last season. Nassr were also beaten by their Riyadh rivals in the King's Cup final on penalties, which resulted in the captain breaking down in tears.
And Nassr's recent Saudi Super Cup thrashing by reigning champions Al Hilal saw the Portuguese forward reacting furiously at his side's performance. He stormed off the pitch in frustration and refused to collect his runners-up medal alongside teammates.
Despite the lack of silverware, Ronaldo has scored 67 goals in 73 games at Nassr and described last season as one of the best of his career as he finished with 35 goals, breaking the SPL record.
“I don’t know if I will retire soon, in two or three years but probably I will retire at Al Nassr. I'm very happy at this club, and I feel good in this country too, I love playing in Saudi Arabia. I want to continue,” Ronaldo said to Portuguese TV channel NOW.
Ronaldo was on target in his side's SPL season opener against Al Raed on Thursday, which ended in a 1-1 draw, and he is next due in action when Nassr face Al Feiha away on Tuesday
It was also a disappointing summer playing for Portugal at Euro 2024. He was left in tears during the last-16 victory over Slovenia when he missed a penalty in extra time with the game still goalless but redeemed himself in the shoot-out by finishing from the spot to help his side win 3-0 on penalties.
His hopes of a second European crown ended in the quarter-finals, though, when Portugal lost 5-3 on penalties to France, with Ronaldo again scoring in the shoot-out, but those two spot-kicks were to be his only goals in the tournament.
The defeat sparked the inevitable questions about Ronaldo's international future after a career that has seen him represent Portugal in six European Championships and four World Cup tournaments. He also holds the all-time record for most international goals with 130 and is his country's most-capped player with 212 appearances.
But Ronaldo also revealed in his TV interview that he has no plans to call it a day and hopes to be part of manager Roberto Martinez's plans for the upcoming Nations League matches in September that see Portugal take on Croatia and Scotland.
“When I leave the national team, I won’t tell anyone beforehand and it will be a very spontaneous decision on my part, but also a well-thought-out one,” he added. “Right now, what I want most is to help the national team in its upcoming matches. We have the Nations League coming up soon and I would really like to play there.”
As for when he does call time on his career, it appears that Ronaldo has no plans to follow former teammates by going into management or coaching. “I see myself doing other things outside of football, but only God knows what the future holds,” he added.
“At the moment, I'm not thinking about being a coach of the first team or any team. It doesn't even cross my mind, I've never thought about it. I don't see my future going through that.”
