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Ronaldo Endures Painful 4-0 Rout as Al Ain Hammer Al Nassr

Published

46 minutes ago

September 16, 2026

Cristiano Ronaldo suffers a heavy 4-0 defeat as Al Ain thrash Al Nassr in the AFC Champions League Elite opener in the UAE

On Tuesday, 15 September 2026, Cristiano Ronaldo suffered his heaviest defeat since joining Al Nassr as Al Ain thrashed the Saudi Pro League champions 4-0 in their opening AFC Champions League Elite fixture in the United Arab Emirates.

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The result was a bleak return to Asia’s top club competition for Al Nassr. Houssine Rahimi scored twice. Soufiane Rahimi and Giorgos Giakoumakis added the other goals.

Houssine Rahimi opened the scoring in the 25th minute after capitalising on an under-hit back-pass from Saad Al-Nasser. Houssine Rahimi doubled Al Ain’s lead in the 63rd minute.

Soufiane Rahimi made it 3-0 in the 72nd minute, running onto a through ball from Alejandro Romero and firing into the bottom corner.

Giorgos Giakoumakis completed the rout in the 85th minute after Soufiane Rahimi rolled the ball into the path of the Greek forward, who scored from close range.

Cristiano Ronaldo started alongside new Al Nassr signing João Félix and could not stop the collapse. Reports after the match said the 4-0 loss was Cristiano Ronaldo’s heaviest defeat since his move to Al Nassr.

The night also revived an older rivalry. In the 2023/24 AFC Champions League, Al Ain eliminated Al Nassr in the quarter-finals after the tie finished 4-4 on aggregate. Al Ain then won the penalty shootout 3-1 in Riyadh.

Giorgos Giakoumakis said Al Ain had expected a hard night. “We knew it was going to be tough, we had to give it our all and I think we did that,” Giorgos Giakoumakis said. “We were really mature from the first to the last moment and we managed to score a good amount of goals and have a good victory.”

Al Nassr have no points after the first round of the 2026/27 AFC Champions League Elite league phase. Al Ain have three. The expanded league phase has 16 teams, with the top eight going through to the knockout rounds.