Cristiano Ronaldo, now officially an Al Nassr player, on Saturday met his Real Madrid counterparts in Saudi Arabia. Madrid, who are in the Saudi capital, Riyadh for the Spanish Supercopa, were visited by the 37-year-old ahead of their final against Barcelona on Sunday.
In a video posted by Real Madrid on social media, Ronaldo can be seen with the Los Blancos manager Carlo Ancelotti and his support staff near their training facility’s touchline area, exchanging a warm embrace followed by a word.
He then also interacted with the Madrid players in the gym and dressing rooms. Wingers, Vinicius Jr. and Rodrygo were seen having a special interaction with the former Madrid winger, who won four Champions League title with the club, including three in a row from 2016 to 2018.
In what was a special moment caught on camera, Rodrygo shows his hands shaking to the camera as he meets Ronaldo.
Earlier during the year, reports had suggested that while he was a free agent, Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes had reached out to Real Madrid multiple times with the proposition to buy the forward. The Champions League and La Liga defending champions however, refused the same despite an offer made by Manchester United to pay for bulk of his salary.
Per The Athletic, “Mendes called Real Madrid several times during the summer to offer Ronaldo to them, but no proposal to bring him back to the Bernabeu was forthcoming. Other leading clubs rejected invitations to sign Ronaldo even when they were told United might be willing to cover the majority of his salary for this season.” In December, after Portugal’s World Cup exit, Ronaldo had returned to Real Madrid’s Valdebebas training ground for the first time since leaving the club for Juventus in 2018, leading to speculations of him returning to the club he played for over a decade.
According to Marca, Ronaldo had waited for Madrid to respond over 40 days before eventually signing with Al Nassr.
Ronaldo had been a free agent after his contract was terminated by Manchester United following an explosive TV interview in which he criticized manager Erik ten Hag and the club’s owners after having been repeatedly benched and even temporarily suspended by the club.
