Cristiano Ronaldo is the top scorer in Saudi Arabia but his Al-Nassr side are trailing in the wake of Al-Hilal, who have a seven-point lead after winning 15 GAMES in a row – all without the injured Neymar!

• Cristiano Ronaldo is prolific, but Al-Nassr are second in the scramble for honours
• Al-Hilal have been in scintillating form, led by the superb Aleksandar Mitrovic 
• Manchester United have snakes in their dressing room, players who are not running. Bruce, Robson, Keane would never allow this – It’s All Kicking Off

Cristiano Ronaldo’s Saudi romp is going swimmingly in personal terms, but he probably didn’t expect to be looking up to Aleksandar Mitrovic. 

Portugal’s favourite son has scored 15 times to fire himself to the top of the Saudi Pro League net-buster charts but a glance at the league table darkens the mood.  

Al-Nassr, the club he signed for on a £175million-per-season deal with ascendant ambitions – catapulting them into the global conversation – are second in the league and seven points off Al-Hilal’s pace. 

Not bad at all. Yet the concerning thing for Ronaldo is that whatever he conjures – be it stunning a 40-yard lob or clinical hat-trick – is but a drop in the ocean compared to the all-encompassing domination of Al-Hilal. 

Al-Hilal’s form in all competitions makes for some exquisite reading – 15 wins in a row and 23 matches unbeaten in all competitions. 

Cristiano Ronaldo’s time at Al-Nassr has been a mix of personal brilliance and team frustration

A 3-0 loss against league leaders Al-Hilal at the start of the month lost Al-Nassr ground in the title race 

Even without the injured Neymar, Al-Hilal have continued their white-hot form – they’ve now been victorious 15 games on the bounce

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In the last 15 games they’ve treated their fans to 44 goals and have only conceded two. And no, they don’t have Harry Maguire at the back. 

All the more staggering is that they’ve been without Neymar, their glitzy £130million-per-season indulgence, for the last 12 games. With their form only picking up after his anterior cruciate ligament injury, you fear for whoever wrote the cheque. 

Instead, they’ve been fired into the lead by former Fulham man Mitrovic, who joined for £46m in the summer and has scored 13 goals. Nice business. 

Summertime saw an arms race in Saudi Arabia as four major clubs owned by the country’s sovereign wealth fund competed to pluck the most expensive men from around Europe. 

Karim Benzema, Riyad Mahrez, Sadio Mane, and many more hopped into an ambitious venture which already boasted Ronaldo after his 2022 arrival. 

Alongside Al-Nassr, last season’s champions Al-Ittihad and fellow big side Al-Ahli recruited star-studded names, with Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq joined a secondary group making their own moves.   

But now, at least in footballing terms, they might be wondering if it has all been in vain with Al-Hilal seven points clear at the top and decimating rivals left, right, and centre. 

How have Al-Hilal done it? 

Aleksandar Mitrovic is living the dream as he has fired Al-Hilal top of the league with 13 goals and thrived in the absence of Neymar 

Al-Hilal recruited smartly over the summer, bringing in a top goalkeeper in the form of Yassine Bounou – something Al-Nassr did not do 

Mitrovic’s goals are supported by strong contributions from ex-Barcelona man Malcom and Salem Al-Dawsari, long one of the league’s best players. 

The spine of Al-Hilal’s team would not look out of place at Europe’s top table. 

In their 3-0 win over nearest rivals Al-Nassr at the start of December, Al-Hilal fielded two-time Europa League winner Yassine Bounou in net, who finished 13th in this year’s Ballon d’Or.

Meanwhile, they had Kalidou Koulibaly at the back, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic and Ruben Neves at the centre of the midfield, Malcon further up, and Mitrovic at the sharp point of their attack. 

It points to a well-balanced and harmonious side who have managed to embed the various players and influences that have come through the door.

Perhaps that’s the thing people forget with these Saudi Arabian sides. On one hand, the richest are half-full of world talents, but they are still supported by more regular players. Bringing together a group of egos to share a common vision with lower-status players is not easy.  

For Al-Hilal, there’s some advantage in being led by Jorge Jesus, who has managed them successfully in the past, losing just one match out of 25 when he was at the helm in 2018/19. 

And so despite Ronaldo’s best efforts, his individual brilliance has not been enough. 

Even with a supporting cast of Sadio Mane, Marcel Brozovic, and Aymeric Laporte, Ronaldo has not been able to crack the code in the Middle East, mostly because of a poor start to the season in which they lost to Al-Ettifaq and Al-Taawoun. 

At least Al-Nassr are only seven points off – that’s a realistic gap to plug with 19 games to go. But the memory of last season, when Ronaldo and his side failed to successfully chase down Nuno Espirito Santo’s Al-Ittihad for first place, will linger.  

Ronaldo has 15 goals but if Al-Nassr fail to win the title this season, that will be his second campaign without the highest domestic honours 

Sadio Mane has made a good impact and formed a nice partnership with Ronaldo, but Al-Nassr have struggled to gel as seamlessly as Al-Nassr 

The other two heavily backed clubs – Al-Ahli and Al-Ittihad – must be looking on with envy at Al-Hilal knowing that their chances in the title race are effectively over. 

Al-Hilal are yet to lose a game in the league or the Asian Champions League this season and their current form is impenetrable. 

But the race for the title isn’t over just yet. There are still 19 games to play and Ronaldo will take confidence from his performance on the eve of the season, where he fired a nine-man Al-Nassr to the Arab Club Champions Cup title over Al-Hilal with a late brace.

He’s still producing magic. Yet in this battle for status, as Saudi clubs jostle to position themselves as global player, only the highest honours will be counted a success. 

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