'Today my heart beat a little faster' - Ronaldo nets dramatic winner, dances Ardah

Cristiano Ronaldo slammed home a penalty well beyond the 90 minutes, sprinted to the corner flag to celebrate the latest of late winners, donned the agal and danced the Ardah.

All around him, Al Awwal Park celebrated as if they were simply fortunate to be there to witness it.

The man many call football’s GOAT had delivered again. Al Nassr defeated Al Fayha 2-1, Ronaldo netting both goals, to maintain their 100 percent start to the Roshn Saudi League season.

The Riyadh powerhouses perch at the summit, their captain now on eight goals for what he believes will be the campaign. While a first RSL title matters most, the two-time golden boot winner moved one behind teammate Joao Felix and Al Khaleej hotshot Joshua King in the race for top-scorer honours.

Aged 40 and one of the game’s most decorated players, Ronaldo has seen and done practically it all. Yet, even when faced with a 104th-minute penalty to settle a Matchweek 7 contest of a still-developing RSL season, the five-time Ballon d’Or conceded the nerves still gnawed.

“Wow - today my heart beat a little bit faster than before,” Ronaldo smiled afterwards. “But this is good, this is my life. Twenty-two years of this, so I'm happy.”

So, too, everyone connected with Al Nassr. The league leaders got there in the end, although they were made to work for a seventh successive RSL victory.

Al Fayha had taken an unexpected lead 13 minutes in through Jason’s quick counter and fine finish, the visitors to the capital intent not to cede ground to the in-form table-toppers.

However, who else but Ronaldo to drag Al Nassr level? To be fair, the equaliser eight minutes before half-time had as much to do with Felix and Kingsley Coman, the soaring summer signings combining brilliantly with a neat interchange before the latter slipped in Ronaldo.

The Portugal captain was left only to compose himself before lifting the ball expertly past Orlando Mosquera in the Al Fayha goal. Then the stage was set for the grandstand finish.

Of course, Ronaldo didn’t disappoint.

“It was very difficult game,” he said after the 21st of a possible 21 points was secure. “We don't create too many chances, [and] they defend very well. But this is a football.

“We have to believe until the end. The team believe, believe, believe. Our supporters believe. We deserved to win.”

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Victory No.7 keeps Al Nassr, last champions in 2018-19, three points clear at the summit. But, having been runner-up two seasons ago and third last term, Ronaldo isn’t getting ahead of himself.

He’s far too experienced for that.

“We need to continue,” Ronaldo, now on 952 career goals, said. “It's good to always win; we are on the top of the classification, but we need to carry on. The season is long. We have to go step by step, but we're in a good moment in the league.”

Again, Ronaldo underlined Al Nassr’s monster mentality, their determination to never give up. Then, when asked if he prefers to score in the final minute to decide a match, instead he laid out clearly his ultimate intention this season.

Without doubt, it's one of the main reasons he extended his Al Nassr contract this summer.

“Well, it's always good to score goals,” Ronaldo said, clutching another Man of the Match award. “I'm very happy to help the team to win. But for me the most important is we won.

“We are a team, so individual awards don’t matter. What I want is to win the league.”