AFC Champions League was overwhelmed by Kawasaki striker, Ronaldo s 10 Saudi career championships are hard to come by

Reporter Han Bing reported that Riyadh, with a starting player worth 135 million euros, won the "half-home game" in Jeddah, and was upset by Kawasaki forward, who had a starting player worth only 5.53 million euros, and missed the AFC final. Not only is the dream of Saudi team meeting in the final shattered, but Ronaldo's "champion-free nightmare" after winning in Riyadh in early 2023 continues. Since the Saudi Super Cup loss to Jeddah United in January 2023, Ronaldo missed the championship in ten official competitions he won in Riyadh. If there are 5 rounds left before the end, but it is already 8 points behind Jeddah United, and the Saudi league this season, which is almost hopeless to win the championship, will miss 11 trophys.

After the game, Ronaldo posted a message on his social media account, "Sometimes dreams need to be waited", but his dream of winning the Saudis is really waiting for too long. Ronaldo hit the crossbar with a header in the first half and missed three consecutive opportunities in stoppage time in the second half. Kawasaki forward mixed-blood goalkeeper Yui Yamaguchi first blocked a free kick taken by Ronaldo, and then fell to the ground to confiscate his long shot. At the last moment, Ronaldo's shot in the penalty area was interfered by Rui Yamaguchi, who was attacking. The ball was cleared by central defender Yuichi Maruyama in front of the goal.

Italian coach Pioli set up a starter with seven foreign players who beat Yokohama Mariner 4-1 in the quarter-finals, but in the quarter-finals, Kawasaki forward who narrowly defeated THAAD 3-2 in overtime. In the first half, five main players took a rest to ensure their physical fitness, with only one foreign player from Brazilian forward Marsinho. French-Japanese mixed-blood goalkeeper Rui Yamaguchi and Dutch-Japanese mixed-blood right-back Van Weimeske Ken Ji are both local players trained by Japanese football. Despite the huge gap in value, the number of starting foreign players was 1-7 and 1-9 in the second half. Kawasaki forward obviously learned from the lessons of Yokohama Mariners, strengthened defense and strengthened pressing, and improved counterattack efficiency.

The 10th minute of the game, Ito Takuya scored first with a long shot from the penalty area line. In the 28th minute, Mane equalized the score by relying on his personal ability. But in the 41st minute, French central defender Simakan made a mistake in clearing the ball, Brazilian goalkeeper Bento saved Ito Takuya's single shot, and Tomosu Oshika made a follow-up shot. In the 44th minute, Pioli replaced Laporte and Angelo in succession. Riyadh won the strong attack with 9 foreign players. At the beginning of the second half, Kawasaki forward also replaced the master of Hashisaka and Brazilian striker Erisson to deal with it. In the 76th minute, Erisson broke through the penalty area at the bottom line and assisted the parent Akihiro to expand the score. In the 87th minute, Yehaiya scored the second goal for Riyadh, but the Kawasaki forward withstood the pressure in the last time. The annoyed video of Ronaldo talking to himself for 3 minutes after the game was instantly spread on social media platforms. Ronaldo's "lost compulsory" after the game was also interpreted by many fans as a complete disappointment with the entire team. After all, losing to the Kawasaki forward who was only worth 1/24 of Riyadh’s victory, and just finished 120 minutes three days ago, is a great humiliation. Saudi media were very dissatisfied with Ronaldo's performance, and the Portuguese ranked only 9th in the team after the game. Ronaldo only made two shots in front of the goal, and four shots missed one pass, missing two absolute goals. The closest score was in the 34th minute, when the header hit the crossbar and the post popped up.

Although he scored 8 goals in 8 AFC Champions League games, Ronaldo missed a total of 10 goals, and this statistics ranked first. However, after the game, Italian coach Pioli chose to defend Ronaldo: "What was unexpected was the performance of the entire team, not the performance of the forward."

Saudi media believed that Pioli's mistake in laying out the lineup was the main reason for the exit. The Italian coach insisted on putting the stronger Spanish central defender Laporte on the bench, and Saudi international central defender Rajami, who made constant mistakes against Yokohama Mariners, continued to start, with Hassan, the only midfielder, giving the opponent too many opportunities to counterattack. Before the first half ended, two people were replaced, and six wingers were piled up in the second half, which proved that Pioli's tactical deployment failed. After being eliminated from the AFC Champions League, there is no hope of competing for the league championship. Pioli, who took the initiative to take the blame after the game, may lose his position as coach.

This is the 10th consecutive trophy that Ronaldo missed more than two years after winning the victory in Riyadh. Among them, there are 3 in the Saudi Super Cup and 2 in the King's Cup, and 2 in the league and AFC Champions League. Although this season has 33 goals and 4 assists, and almost 1 goal per game, Riyadh's victory has been eliminated in the Saudi Super Cup, the King's Cup and the AFC Champions League, and there are 8 points behind Jeddah United in 5 rounds left in the league, and there is basically no hope of winning the championship. The only trophy that Ronaldo won in Riyadh is the Arab Champions League in the summer of 2023, which is not an official match.

With the arrival of the third championship-free season, Riyadh's victory will experience new turmoil, and the renewal of Ronaldo's victory with Riyadh has been cast in shadow - the Portuguese superstar has been rumored to be in a disagreement with coach Pioli, and asked the club to introduce more top stars.

From 1995 to the present, Riyadh's victory has failed to reach the AFC final nine times in 20 years. Both ended in the semi-finals in 2020, 2021 and this year. This failure made Kawasaki forward, who participated in the 11th AFC Champions League, entered the AFC final for the first time, and was also the 8th team in Japan to enter the AFC final. The Jeddah nationals, who will compete with Kawasaki forward for the AFC Champions League trophy in the final, disappointed fans of Riyadh's victory. Because this team has three big steps in three years: they are still in the Saudi Class II in the 2022/23 season, and have been promoted to the Class I last season and entered the AFC final this season. In contrast, Riyadh victory has invested at least 500 million euros in Ronaldo, but he cannot even get a trophy.