Portuguese football superstar Cristiano Ronaldo moved one step closer to his historic career milestone of 1,000 total goals on Monday, netting his 981st career strike to help Saudi Pro League champions Al-Nassr secure a 3-1 AFC Champions League Group B win over Uzbek side Neftchi Fergana — a match almost derailed before kickoff by a last-minute missile alert in Riyadh.
The scheduled start of the fixture was pushed back by 60 minutes after Saudi Arabia’s Civil Defence issued an urgent safety warning just 15 minutes before players were set to take the pitch. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital, has been a repeated target of ballistic missile attacks launched by the Iran-aligned Houthi movement based in neighboring Yemen. Late Monday, shortly after the match resumed, explosions were reported across the capital following an attempted missile strike, which the Saudi-led military coalition confirmed it had intercepted and destroyed mid-flight.
Once the delay ended and the match got underway, Al-Nassr drew first blood in the 33rd minute through winger Angelo. Ronaldo doubled the home side’s lead just before halftime, marking his second consecutive goal since returning to club play. Neftchi Fergana pulled one goal back mid-match, but the Uzbeki champions were reduced to 10 players after a 65-minute red card, and an own goal with 13 minutes left to play sealed Al-Nassr’s first victory in group stage play.
Monday’s strike comes on the heels of high-profile drama for Ronaldo last week: the 5-time Ballon d’Or winner cut his time with the Portugal national team short during the recent international break, walking out of camp early out of frustration over limited playing time in UEFA Nations League matches. He scored on his return to Al-Nassr’s club lineup on Friday, before repeating the feat in Monday’s continental fixture.
The missile scare in Riyadh has thrown regional sporting events into uncertainty, including the final two races of the 2025 Formula 1 calendar, scheduled for Qatar and Abu Dhabi in the coming weeks. F1 leadership is currently moving forward with plans to hold both races as originally scheduled, according to F1 correspondent Andrew Benson, but the decision has sparked quiet unease among teams and personnel in the paddock that has rarely been voiced publicly.
Proponents of proceeding with the races note that Qatari and Emirati government officials have confirmed there is no credible threat to event safety, and that no attacks on civilian infrastructure in either country have been recorded since earlier this year. Both nations have continued to operate all normal public and commercial activities, and the UK Foreign Office has not issued a formal advisory against travel to the region. Instead, the Foreign Office has warned British nationals of the ongoing risk of sudden attacks and unplanned escalation, advising that travelers should prepare for potential flight cancellations, temporary airspace closures, and unexpected travel disruptions.
Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff summed up the prevailing public stance of teams on Sunday, saying, “Whether Qatar and Abu Dhabi happens at the moment, everybody says so, and so we need to go the direction of this is six more races to go.”
Even as plans proceed, F1 has prepared a contingency to avoid a last-minute cancelation of the Abu Dhabi race weekend if regional tensions escalate, for example after the United States midterm elections on November 3. F1 has already lined up Imola, Italy’s iconic Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, as a backup venue to host the season finale if the Middle Eastern round is called off.