Saudi club Al Nassr arrived in Tashkent on Saturday without Cristiano Ronaldo, ahead of their AFC Champions League Elite match against Pakhtakor today, Nov. 2.
Saudi newspaper Arriyadiyah reported that head coach Ange Postecoglou left the Portuguese star out of the squad traveling to Uzbekistan, along with defender Mohammed Simakan and forward Kingsley Coman. Eighteen-year-old forward Abdulrahman Sufyani was included in their place. Kickoff is at 6:45 p.m.
Other stars, including Senegalese forward Sadio Mane, are still expected to play for Al Nassr.
Tickets for the match went on sale on iticket.uz on Oct. 21, priced from 100,000 to 3 million soums. By the afternoon of Oct. 22, tickets below 300,000 soums were no longer available, while tickets for the CIP sectors had not yet been released for sale.
Ronaldo’s absence would not be the first of its kind. He has skipped Al Nassr’s away trips to some countries before, including the AFC Champions League 2 match against FC Goa in India, when he was left out of the squad that traveled. He reportedly has a contract clause that lets him choose which games outside Saudi Arabia he plays.
Pakhtakor are 12th in the West Region standings with two points after three rounds, while Al Nassr are ninth with three points.
