**Cristiano Ronaldo’s Saudi Arabia sojourn: Individual success, collective failure, and final day drama** Less than six months ago, the world of football came to a standstill as legendary Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo announced that he would be joining Saudi Arabian side Al Nassr after a 20-year career in Europe’s elite leagues. With a staggering €200 million per year salary, it was quite understandable that Ronaldo would be tempted to abandon European football, having already won it all with teams like Manchester United, Real Madrid, and Juventus. His fallout with Manchester United’s hierarchy after an explosive tell-all interview with [Piers Morgan](https://www.youtube.com/embed/Jk9uJRMvBIA) facilitated his move to the Gulf, which then posed a number of interesting questions. How would Ronaldo’s arrival affect Al-Nassr and the visibility of the Saudi Professional League? How would moving to Saudi Arabia affect Ronaldo’s visibility, and most importantly, would Cristiano Ronaldo, arguably the greatest footballer of all time, be able to cut it against the ‘farmers’ in Saudi Arabia? After a short six months, most of these questions have been answered, starting with how Ronaldo would fare in the Saudi Professional League.
**Al-Nassr bottle the league despite incredible Ronaldo performances.** When Ronaldo played his first game for Al Nassr in January, they were top of the Saudi Professional League with a two-point gap between them and their closest challengers, Al-Ittihad and Al-Hilal, having only lost one match all season while winning 10 of their 14 fixtures. However, as the season progressed, Al Nassr gave up ground in the title race, losing two more games and drawing three of their next 15 matches, leaving them four points away from leaders Al-Ittihad with only one more game to play. Unfortunately, there was no silverware in Ronaldo’s first half-season with the club, as Al-Nassr were also dumped out of the Saudi Super Cup and Saudi King’s Cup, leaving them without any major honours. Despite painfully losing out on the league title, and an otherwise poor season for AL Nassr, Ronaldo had a marvelous individual season with a number of incredible performances. The Portuguese star lived up to the billing, becoming Al Nassr’s most important player the moment he touched the grass.
He scored 14 of the club’s 33 goals in the league during his first campaign with them, including four goals in only his third match with the club which he followed up with a hat-trick two games later. His goals were not enough to take the title challenge all the way to the last day of the season, but the Saudi Professional League will still be serving a spectacle at the end of the season.
**Saudi League final day drama** With the league title already wrapped up, and continental qualification already decided, the final day of the Saudi Professional League will centre around the relegation battle, where four teams will slug it out for the two remaining positions in next year’s league campaign. Bottom side Al-Batin are the most likely to get relegated, as they are one of two sides fighting to beat the drop who will play their final league game away from home. Al-Batin face Al-Taawoun, who are on a five-game winning streak and as such the embattled relegation fighters **have been placed at 6.40 odds to grab a vital win**, while Al-Taawoun have been backed at 1.45 to win the game and relegate their visitors. The other team battling the drop who play their final game away from home are **Al-Fayha who are priced at 2.27 odds** to sneak a win against Al Wehda, who are currently just one place above them in the league table, albeit safe from relegation. Al-Khaleej have a great chance of beating the drop as they are currently outside the relegation zone on goal difference and could remain there even if they lose their final league game against Abha. However, being the home team in the tie, **Al-Khaleej have been granted favourable odds on BetKing**, and are odds-on favourites to beat the Abha side, who have lost both of their last two matches. The fourth team, Al-Adalah are also unlikely to go down, as a draw or even a loss could see them stay up since they are the only side on 30 points, compared to the other teams, who are on 28 points each. They also play their final game of the season at home against Al-Ettifaq, who have won only one game in five. [Al-Adalah have been priced at 1.71 odds](https://m.betking.com/sports/match/5311201/al-adalah-fc-al-ettifaq-fc) to win their final match of the season and should be doing exactly that given the calibre of opposition.
**Next Season in the Saudi Professional League: Featuring Lionel Messi?** All four teams will want to beat the drop in the Saudi Professional League as next season is set to be even more exciting, with more big names expected to grace the league following the capture of Cristiano Ronaldo. The list of players who could move to the Gulf next season is long, but no name on it will be more eye-catching than Ronaldo’s nemesis, Lionel Messi. With Messi set to leave French Giants Paris Saint-Germain at the end of his current contract, rumours have circulated that the Argentine World Cup star could be set to follow his arch-rival Ronaldo to the Saudi Professional League with a salary of around €400 million being touted. If Messi does go to Saudi Arabia, you can make some money off his move since [he is backed by BetKing to make a move to any Saudi Arabian team at 2.00 odds. ](https://m.betking.com/sports/special-offer/leagues/special/5285893) If you believe he is closer to a move to his former club, Barcelona, you can also put your money where your mouth is, as [that move is priced at odds of 2.25. ](https://m.betking.com/sports/special-offer/leagues/special/5285893)
Away from Ronaldo and Messi and whether they’ll renew their storied rivalry in the Saudi League next season, we’d like to remind you that the best odds around are still with us. With a variety of events to wager on; from virtual sports to casino games and, of course, the best of online sports betting, you could start winning right now! Just log in to BetKing and start living like a King today. And if you don’t have an account yet? [Sign up now](https://m.betking.com/account/registration) to take advantage of BetKing’s incredibly high odds on pre-match and live matches today.