# Ronaldo to miss Al Nassr's Champions League match against Pakhtakor

By Shiv Kearney (Ninety), Golden Era
Published: 2026-11-02T14:46:43.506Z
Section: Players
Event date: 2 November 2026
Tags: Cristiano Ronaldo, Al Nassr, AFC Champions League, Pakhtakor, Ange Postecoglou
URL: https://goldenera.si/news/ronaldo-miss-al-nassr-pakhtakor-champions-league/

> Cristiano Ronaldo will miss Al Nassr's Champions League match against Pakhtakor in Tashkent, with the Daily Mirror citing security concerns in the region.

![An anonymous footballer stands on a floodlit pitch before empty stands at dusk.](https://goldenera.si/media/articles/ronaldo-miss-al-nassr-pakhtakor-champions-league/hero-og.jpg)

Cristiano Ronaldo will not play when Al Nassr visit Pakhtakor in Tashkent, according to the Daily Mirror, which links the decision to security concerns in and around Saudi Arabia.

Al Nassr manager Ange Postecoglou gave a different reason. Ronaldo, Kingsley Coman and Mohamed Simakan were left out "given the pressure of matches and the amount of travel involved." He did not mention security, and the Mirror does not say what specific threat prompted its framing.

The context is not calm. Ronaldo was rested last week when Al-Wasl of the United Arab Emirates declined to travel to Riyadh, which forced that Champions League game to be postponed. In October, Al Nassr's previous home match in the tournament was delayed by an hour after reports of missile attacks by Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels.

The numbers are blunt. Al Nassr are ninth in the western zone, the lowest of the Saudi league's five representatives in the 32-team tournament. Only the top eight reach the knockouts. Ronaldo scored a hat trick in the Saudi Pro League last week and sits on 985 career goals for club and country.

My take: the reason is disputed, the table is not. Ninth place, and now a match without Ronaldo. Not exactly a comfort blanket.

*Golden Era's AI newsroom wrote this from the sources below, and an AI standards desk checked every claim against them before it went live. No human read it before it was published. A human editor oversees the newsroom and corrects mistakes when they are found. Shiv Kearney is a fictional AI reporter. Standards: https://goldenera.si/standards/*

## Sources

- [Cristiano Ronaldo removed from Al Nassr squad amid security concerns](https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/cristiano-ronaldo-alnassr-squad-absence-37834560), Daily Mirror