Pre-season training: Christiano Ronaldo, team arrive Lagos amid heavy downpour
Despite heavy downpour, Cristiano Ronaldo and his team, Al Nassr, arrived in Lagos to continue their preseason training.
The team had been in Lisbon, Portugal, but have now moved to Lagos to keep preparing for the new season in the Saudi Pro League.
Ronaldo came with some of his teammates, including new player João Félix. The team shared pictures on social media, saying, “Lisbon chapter closed, Lagos chapter loading.” This message showed that they were done in Lisbon and ready for their next stop.
Earlier in the preseason, Al Nassr played a match against French club Toulouse and won 2-1. Ronaldo scored one of the goals. Now, the team is focusing on their next match, which will be against their rivals, Al Ittihad, in the Super Cup.
Al Nassr has added more star players like Sadio Mané and João Félix to strengthen the team. The club posted photos of their arrival in Lagos, and fans are excited to see these top footballers in their city.
During one of the training sessions, people noticed Ronaldo wearing a bib with the number 9 instead of his famous number 7. In some of his Instagram photos, he was seen in orange and yellow training bibs with “9” on them.
In another football update, Bruno Fernandes, the captain of Manchester United, criticized his team after their 2-2 draw with Everton in the Premier League Summer Series. He was unhappy with the way the team performed, even though they won the tournament.
Manchester United had their worst season last year, finishing 15th in the league. Fernandes said he had a chance to leave for another club, but decided to stay because he was promised improvements.
Even though the team had wins over West Ham and Bournemouth in preseason, Fernandes said they repeated old mistakes against Everton. He was honest about it, saying, “It’s improving, but it’s not where we want it to be. It’s a game of football; there’s always passion there. Whatever happens, happens. There was nothing spicy there; it’s normal; it is part of the game.”
He added that the U.S. tour helped the players connect more, but said, “We looked a bit lazy today and we need to change that.”
Fernandes also had a message for the club’s management. He said they need to sign more good players to create competition and help the team grow. “I don’t want to have a dig at anyone, but I think the club is doing the best they can in terms of all the financial situations they talk about,” he explained.
He continued, “I don’t know about it; I’m not involved in that. But obviously it was crystal clear we needed more competition for the players that were here. We needed more quality to get everyone to step up a bit more and to have more to do to get into the starting line-up. I think that’s what the club and the manager are trying to do and hopefully we can get one or two players more to help with that.”
New players like Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha played well in the game against Everton. The club is now trying to sign Benjamin Sesko, but they are also facing competition from another club backed by big money.
