Cristiano Ronaldo Left Out of Al Nassr's Squad for Asian Champions League Clash

Not even fresh off reaching 985 career goals is Cristiano Ronaldo exempt from the math of squad rotation. The Portuguese star was left out of Al Nassr's squad for Monday's Asian Champions League match against Pakhtakor in Tashkent, barely a week after scoring a hat-trick in the Saudi League that left him on the doorstep of a round number he has chased for some time: 1,000 career goals.

The call came from coach Ange Postecoglou, who also left out Kingsley Coman and Mohamed Simakan for the trip to Uzbekistan. The manager, who previously led Tottenham Hotspur and the Australian national team, didn't mince words at the pre-match press conference, explaining that he rested the trio "given the pressure of matches and the amount of travel involved" in the club's recent schedule.

It hasn't been an easy start for Al Nassr in the continental competition. The club sits ninth in the West group, the lowest-placed of the five Saudi sides competing in the 32-team tournament, which is split into two zones (east and west) of 16 clubs each, with the top eight from each group advancing to the knockout stage. Postecoglou, for his part, chose to see the glass half full:

Despite the difficult start, the preparation conditions and the lack of a full preseason buildup, we've now reached an excellent stage.Ange Postecoglou

Monday's rest for Ronaldo isn't actually his first in recent days. Last week he already missed out on playing when Al-Wasl of the United Arab Emirates refused to travel to Riyadh for its Champions League fixture, forcing the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to postpone the match. On top of that, Al Nassr's previous home game, on October 12, was delayed by an hour following reports of missile attacks attributed to Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

Security Concerns Cast a Shadow Over Saudi Football

The context is worrying beyond Al Nassr. Al Ahli, the two-time defending Asian champion, sits third in its group and will visit Al Sadd in Qatar, though it arrives bruised after a 6-1 home loss on Friday. The Jeddah club is hoping to have English forward Ivan Toney available, who has scored 13 league goals this season, after he traveled to London last week to appear in court, where he pleaded not guilty to an assault charge.

Meanwhile, Al Hilal remains on track in the domestic league: with a goal from fellow Englishman Ollie Watkins, the Riyadh club notched its fifth straight win and moved into first place in the Saudi League. The four-time champion will now host Shabab Al-Ahli of the United Arab Emirates, in a match that, for now, remains on the schedule.

The real question mark hangs over the Asian Cup, set to kick off in Saudi Arabia on January 7. Japan Football Association president Tsuneyasu Miyamoto cast doubt on whether the tournament can go ahead as planned:

From what I've learned through the news, the situation remains unsafe, so at this point I don't think it would be easy to hold the Asian Cup there.Tsuneyasu Miyamoto

Those remarks came after AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ibrahim Al Khalifa noted that there is still time to monitor the situation before making any decision. "We can wait until the end of November. Things can change very quickly, for better or worse, in the region, and it's a matter of seeing what happens. If a decision needs to be made, we'll make it, but we could also push it to 2028 if necessary," Salman explained. Saudi organizers, for their part, insist that preparations are proceeding as normal: the schedules and venues for all matches were confirmed last week.