From Real Madrid to RSL rivals, Ronaldo and Nacho link up again

That Cristiano Ronaldo and Nacho are not only former Real Madrid teammates, but current Roshn Saudi League rival captains, conveys just how far the Kingdom’s lead football competition has come.

Ronaldo, of course, is the player credited with blazing a trail from Europe to Saudi Arabia, the Al Nassr superstar moving to the RSL in late December 2022 and thus plotting the pathway for some of his peers to follow. Nacho became one the latest this summer past. In signing for newly promoted Al Qadsiah in June, the Spanish defender arrived in the country as a champion with both club and country.

Merely weeks before agreeing to join the Al Khobar side on a free transfer, Nacho led Real Madrid to the UEFA Champions League trophy – incredibly, his sixth continental crown with his boyhood club. The following month, he was part of the Spain squad that lifted the UEFA European Championship.  

Capturing European football’s two greatest prizes is simply another line that can be drawn between Nacho and Ronaldo. In fact, a large portion of the former's memorable moments at Real Madrid were experienced alongside the latter.

There were four UEFA Champions League titles together, including the long-awaited La Decima in 2014 that sparked Real Madrid’s latest dominance of the game’s premier club competition. There were also, among others, two La Liga successes, two Copa del Reys and three FIFA Club World Cups; Ronaldo and Nacho ascending the various podiums as victorious colleagues.

By the time Ronaldo departed in 2018, he perched proudly as Real Madrid's all-time leading scorer. From there, and from his position at the other end of the pitch, Nacho went on to continue to augment the exalted Spanish club's already brim-full trophy cabinet.

However, this weekend will mark a first for the ex-teammates who have won almost everything in football. On Friday, Ronaldo’s Al Nassr welcome Nacho’s Al Qadsiah to Al Awwal Park, as the RSL resumes after the FIFA international break. It will constitute the first time they’ve faced one another in club football since their days together on the Real Madrid training pitch.

That’s not to say, though, that they haven't come up against one another competitively. Their only meeting as opposing players came at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where Ronaldo scored a sublime hat-trick in a stirring 3-3 draw. Famously, his third was a last-gasp free-kick to seal a share of the spoils. Albeit stationed away from the six-man Spanish wall, Nacho could only watch as the ball curled around Sergio Busquets and into David de Gea's net.

Perhaps that will come up in conversation when the two Real Madrid greats get reacquainted on Friday, as Nacho attempts to prevent Ronaldo from adding to his six RSL goals this season. You’d think, however, that the respective captains will instead discuss their trophy-laden time together at the Santiago Bernabeu, when they formed one of European football’s most devastatingly dominant dynasties.

Undoubtedly, that can wait. Former teammates, they are now RSL rivals. Significant history shared, at present they have conflicting commitments. On Friday, at least, the friendship plays second fiddle to their respective teams’ top-flight targets.