FORMER Zimbabwe Warriors captain Knowledge Musona is set to finally compete against global football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo when his Saudi Arabia Pro League side Al Tai host Al Nassr on Tuesday night.
Musona is enjoying his best season in Saudi Arabia this season with seven goals and eight assists in 25 matches while he has been rewarded by the club with the captain’s armband. One of the matches is a Cup game in which he scored a goal.
Al Tai are also having a strong showing in the competition this season as they sit in seventh place with 34 points from 26 matches, with four matches remaining in the competition.
Ronaldo joined Al Nassr on a mega money two-and -a-half-year move estimated to be worth more than US$200 million annually at the beginning of the year after an unceremonious departure from English giants Manchester United in November.
The deal saw Ronaldo become the highest paid athlete in history, as he takes home about US$214 million-a-year, which includes his basic football salary of US$75 million-per-year along with commercial bonuses.
The five -time Ballon D’Or winner was unveiled barely two days before Al Nassr played AlTai in the reverse fixture as he pleaded to be allowed to go straight into battle.
But Ronaldo could not play in Al Nassr's comfortable 2–0 home win as he was serving a two-match English Football Association ban before which he was slapped with in November for hitting a mobile phone out of a teenage fan's hand after Manchester United lost to Everton.
“To be honest I am really not worried about what people say. I took my decision and I have the responsibility to change it. But for me I am really happy to be here and I know the league is very competitive, the people don’t know that, but I know because I saw many games. And what I want is I am looking forward to playing, I hope to play the day after tomorrow if the coach thinks it’s a good chance,” Ronaldo said in his first press conference at the club.
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Musona will be hoping to help his side bounce back from a disappointing 4–3 defeat to bottom side Al Batin on Wednesday after letting slip a two-goal lead and further dent secondplaced Al Nassr’s title ambitions.
Al Nassr are currently five points behind Al Ittihad and need nothing short of a miracle to dislodge the pacesetters in the last four games of the league race.
This season alone Musona has been recognised several times after he was included in the Saudi Pro League Team of the Week following his superb individual display during Al Tai’s 1-0 victory against Abha at the Prince Abdul Aziz bin Musa’ed Stadium a little over two weeks ago.
Back in February, Musona was selected in the SofaScore’s Saudi Pro League Team of the Week after registering his sixth assist of the season and was also on target in Al Tai’s2-2 draw against Al-Adalah.
