How many ACL Elite & ACL2 away games has Cristiano Ronaldo featured in for Al Nassr?

The Knights of Najd have been drawn in the same ACL2 group as FC Goa, Al Zawraa and FC Istiklol.

The football world gets excited whenever they are assured that Cristiano Ronaldo will play in a continental club competition. Although he no longer features in the UEFA Champions League, where he made his name, the player still does his thing in the Asian version of the competition. This time, the Al-Nassr star will be playing in the AFC Champions League Two (ACL2).

The allure of the star is such that, instead of an opposition club desiring to avoid Al-Nassr, as they are a strong team, the fans (and maybe even the opposition team) want Ronaldo’s team to clash with theirs. It allows them to fulfil their wish of seeing the five-time Ballon d’Or winner play in their country, and at their stadium, where they can more feasibly go and watch him play.

This season, the Knights of Najd have been drawn in Group D in the ACL2. With the draw done and dusted, they will be taking on these teams: FC Goa, Al Zawraa and FC Istiklol. They are clubs from India, Iraq and Tajikistan, respectively.

As in the group stage games, each club plays the other twice – once at home and another away- the fans of the opposition teams are highly excited as they eagerly await the arrival of Ronaldo. But there’s a catch.

As per several reports, the Portugal national team captain has a clause in his contract with the Saudi Pro League team Al-Nassr, which allows him to decide whether he travels to play in away games or not. So will Ronaldo play in any of these three countries in the group stage games? It’s up to him to decide.

Cristiano Ronaldo joined Al-Nassr on January 1, 2023. Since then, we have seen the Real Madrid icon play two seasons of Asia’s continental tournaments. In both seasons, the Saudi club participated in the first-tier, AFC Champions League Elite (ACL Elite).

This means Ronaldo is yet to even play in the second-tier tournament, the AFC Champions League Two.

In total, the 40-year-old could have played in 11 away games over the past two seasons of ACL Elite. However, in 2023-24, he featured in three of a possible five outings. He was not in the squad when the team travelled to Qatar and Tajikistan to take on Al-Duhail SC and Istiqlol, respectively.

Talking about the last season, 2024-25, Ronaldo played in three away games out of six. One game he missed with a legit reason, as the player was dealing with a ‘virus’ while his team clashed with the Iraqi team Al-Shorta.

Later, he decided not to be in the squad for two away trips to Iran. One game was against Persepolis and the other against Esteghlal FC. We have put detailed info for you to see about the away games Ronaldo’s club featured in the last two seasons of ACL Elite (data via Transfermarkt):

AFC Champions League Elite (previously called AFC Champions League) 2023-24

AFC Champions League Elite 2024-25

Will Cristiano Ronaldo travel to India to face FC Goa?

As the data show, Ronaldo has featured in less than half of the away matches in the ACL and especially not outside the Gulf regions. Be it the importance of the away matches or rest, currently it looks unlikely that Ronaldo will travel to India to face FC Goa, but nothing is confirmed and only time will answer that question.

But it can be certain that FC Goa will face Ronaldo in Saudi Arabia, as the Portuguese star features in almost all home ACL matches for this side.

For more updates, follow Khel Now on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram; download the Khel Now Android App or IOS App and join our community on Telegram.