Cristiano Ronaldo moved closer to the historic 1,000-goal milestone after scoring his 981st career goal 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 advantage in the 42nd minute at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, after Angelo Gabriel had opened the scoring nine minutes earlier.
Ronaldo’s goal followed a well-worked attacking move involving Sadio Mane and Aiman Yahya. Mane delivered a looping cross from the left, which Yahya redirected with his chest into Ronaldo’s path before the forward fired into the bottom corner.
The strike took Ronaldo to 981 career goals, leaving him just 19 short of reaching the remarkable 1,000-goal mark for club and country.
The encounter began about an hour behind schedule following a security alert issued by Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence shortly before kick-off. Reports linked the delay to security concerns amid missile threats from Yemen-based Houthi rebels.
Neftchi responded six minutes into the second half, with Alisher Odilov reducing the deficit. However, the visitors’ comeback hopes suffered a major blow when Ikromjon Alibaev was sent off in the 65th minute for a foul on Mohamed Simakan.
Al-Nassr eventually secured the victory in the 78th minute after Anvarjon Gofurov scored an own goal.
The result gave Al-Nassr their first points in the 2026/27 AFC Champions League Elite campaign following a 4-0 defeat to UAE side Al-Ain in their opening match.
Ronaldo had scored his 980th career goal in Al-Nassr’s 3-0 win over Diriyah before adding another against Neftchi.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner continues his pursuit of one of football’s most extraordinary individual milestones.
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