Al Nassr

Ronaldo sobs after Al-Nassr loses to Al Hilal in the Saudi King's Cup final on penalties.

Al-Hilal prevailed 5-4 in a penalty shootout to settle a 1-1 match that went into overtime in Jeddah. In the shootout, Ronaldo had scored first.

Cristiano Ronaldo of Al Nassr appears sad after losing to Al Hilal in the Saudi King Cup final on June 1, 2024, both in the penalty shootout and overall.

After his Al-Nassr club lost the King's Cup final to Al-Hilal on Friday, Cristiano Ronaldo sobbed as he left the field, capping a second consecutive Saudi Arabian season without winning any significant hardware.

Al-Hilal prevailed 5-4 in a penalty shootout to settle a 1-1 match that went into overtime in Jeddah. At King Abdullah Sports City, Ronaldo—who signed with Al-Nassr in December 2022—fell to the ground in anguish and was comforted by teammates.

Al-Nassr finished second in the Saudi Pro League, 14 points behind Al-Hilal, and the loss occurred just four days after the season concluded. When Ronaldo scored twice to set a new league record of 35 goals in a season, there was some solace.

This time, after a furious match that witnessed two goals and three red cards, there was no such consolation.

After seven minutes, Aleksandar Mitrovic headed the Al-Hilal goal. When goalkeeper David Ospina, previously of Arsenal and Napoli, was sent off for handling the ball beyond the area early in the second half, things grew worse for Al-Nassr.


After 86 minutes, Ali Al-Bulaihi was sent off for what appeared to be a headbutt on Sami Al-Najei, reducing Al-Hilal to 10 men as well.

 Ayman Yahya headed Al-Nassr level shortly after.

Following a second yellow card for Chelsea signee Kalidou Koulibaly in the summer, Al-Hilal had another defender sent off in the ninetieth minute.

Extra time ended without any goals, and a shootout was used to decide the winner. Hilal's opening attempt was missed by Ruben Neves, while Alex Telles, a former Manchester United defender, missed it for Al-Nassr.

Ronaldo, who had earlier struck the bar with an incredible overhead kick, scored from his penalty, but all he could do was watch as Bounou, the hero of Morocco's run to the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals, made two saves: one from Ali Al-Hassan and the other from Al-Nemer.

Ronaldo and his squad will have to wait until the next season, but Hilal won his 11th King's Cup thanks to the saves.