Cristiano Ronaldo moved within 19 goals of reaching 1,000 career strikes after scoring in Al-Nassr’s 3-1 victory over Uzbekistan’s Neftchi Fergana in the AFC Champions League Elite on Monday.
The 41-year-old Portuguese forward doubled Al-Nassr’s lead in the 42nd minute at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh, following Angelo Gabriel’s opener nine minutes earlier.
According to Reuters, Sadio Mane supplied a looping cross before Aiman Yahya chested the ball into Ronaldo’s path, allowing him to fire into the bottom corner.
The match was delayed by about an hour following a security alert from Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence amid reported missile threats from Yemen-based Houthi rebels.
Neftchi pulled one back through Alisher Odilov six minutes after the restart, but their comeback hopes faded when Ikromjon Alibaev was sent off in the 65th minute for fouling Mohamed Simakan.
Anvarjon Gofurov’s own goal in the 78th minute sealed the win for Al-Nassr, earning them their first points in the 2026/27 campaign after a 4-0 opening defeat to UAE side Al-Ain.
Ronaldo had scored his 980th career goal in a 3-0 win over Diriyah before netting again against Neftchi as he continues his pursuit of 1,000 goals for club and country.
