Cristiano Ronaldo reaches 981st career goal — 19 to 1,000
Ronaldo scored in Al-Nassr’s 3:1 win over Neftchi Farg'ona in the AFC Champions League; the home match at Al-Awwal Park began after a security delay.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored the 981st goal of his professional career as Al-Nassr beat Neftchi Farg'ona 3:1 in the second round of the AFC Champions League group stage.
The match at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh was delayed by one hour after Saudi authorities reported and intercepted rockets aimed at the capital; play began once officials declared the danger had passed.
Al-Nassr opened the scoring in the 33rd minute through Angelo Gabriel. Nine minutes later Ronaldo doubled the lead: following a cross from Sadio Mane, Ayman Yahya chest-controlled the ball to the Portuguese forward, who turned and finished into the net to make it 2:0. With that strike, Ronaldo sits on 981 career goals, nineteen short of the 1,000 milestone.
After the interval Neftchi pulled one back in the 51st minute when Alisher Odilov capitalised on a defensive error. The visitors’ hopes suffered a severe blow in the 65th minute when Jamshid Iskandarov was sent off for a rough foul on Mohamed Simakan.
Playing with a numerical advantage, Al-Nassr sealed the win in the 78th minute when Anvar Gofurov deflected Samuel Costa’s cross into his own net to set the final score at 3:1.
With the result Al-Nassr collected their first three points in the competition and bounced back from the 0:4 defeat to Al-Ain in the opening round. Neftchi Farg'ona also have three points after winning their first match against Al-Kuwait Al-Jawiya.
Next fixture
Ronaldo’s next appearance will be in the Saudi domestic league: on 15 October 2026 (Thursday) Al-Nassr visit Al-Ahli in round nine of the Saudi Professional League. A victory would allow Al-Nassr to temporarily move to the top of the table.
Photo: press material from the event
