We need to change our game so that Ronaldo can thrive. Players were passing to him a lot, said coach Al-Nassr. What else did Garcia say?

Cristiano Ronaldo made his first league start for Saudi Arabia’s Al-Nassr on Sunday 22 January. His team won 1: 0, although the Portuguese legend did not play a major part in the goal. And coach Rudi Garcia has outlined his plan to get the best out of Ronaldo so that he doesn’t go goalless.

Al-Nassr Riyadh, as the full name of this Saudi Arabian side goes, managed to win their Sunday league fixture on home soil against Al-Ettifaq, winning 1-0.

Anderson Talisca scored the only goal of the match in the 31st minute. Al-Nassr thus leads the Saudi Arabia’s top competition ahead of Al-Hilal with 33 points and a score of 28::6. The latter has only one point less, but one more match played.

However, coach Garcia admits that his team tried too hard at times to get Ronaldo into the game, which of course had an impact on the game itself. And he says that needs to change for the 37-year-old Portuguese legend to thrive in the Middle East.

It should be noted, Ronaldo played the full 90 minutes and already wore the captain’s armband on his league debut.

Garcia subsequently announced in a press conference how he wants to get the other players to make the right decisions on the pitch, and how to adapt the game system accordingly.

Coach Garcia’s statement

“It’s very important that the players play normally and don’t try to give the ball to Cristiano all the time. I told them that they have to make the right decisions on the pitch. Obviously, when Cristiano or Talisca are alone and ask for the ball, we have to give it to them. These two players are different,” said Garcia, whose words were quoted by Goal.

“Tonight I think we sometimes had good passing positions but not enough people in the box. And sometimes we missed Ronaldo and Talisca. We have to work on that, so that one of them is active and in the game and the other one is playing maybe outside the game, ready to pass,” he added.

Finally, Garcia added that Ronaldo obviously has to get used to the new environment. But after that, he said he believes he will play with a smile on his face. And it is also up to them to get him into the right rhythm.

Sources: Goal, Al-Nassr