After his Al Nassr club fell to Al Hilal in the King's Cup final on Friday, Cristiano Ronaldo sobbed as he left the field, capping a second consecutive Saudi Arabian season without winning any significant hardware.
In Jeddah, the match ended in extra time with a 1-1 score, but Al Hilal prevailed 5-4 on penalties to decide the match.
At King Abdullah Sports City, Ronaldo—who signed with Al Nassr in December 2022—fell to the ground in anguish and was comforted by teammates.
The Saudi Pro League season, in which Al Nassr finished second, 14 points behind Al Hilal, ended just four days prior to the loss.
When Ronaldo scored twice to set a new league record of 35 goals in a season, there was some solace.
This time, after a furious match that witnessed two goals and three red cards, there was no such consolation.
After seven minutes, Aleksandar Mitrovic headed Al Hilal ahead.
When goalkeeper David Ospina, previously of Arsenal and Napoli, was sent off for handling the ball beyond the area early in the second half, things became worse for Al Nassr.
After 86 minutes, Ali Al-Bulaihi was sent off for what appeared to be a headbutt on Sami Al-Najei, reducing Al Hilal to 10 men as well.
Ayman Yahya led Al Nassr level shortly after.
Following a second yellow card for Chelsea signee Kalidou Koulibaly in the summer, Al Hilal saw another defender sent off in the ninetieth minute.
Extra time ended without any goals, and a shootout was used to decide the winner. Both Alex Telles, a former Manchester United defender, and Ruben Neves missed Al Hilal's opening chance for Al Nassr.
Ronaldo, who had earlier struck the bar with an incredible overhead kick, scored from his penalty, but all he could do was watch as Bounou, the hero of Morocco's run to the 2022 World Cup quarterfinals, made two saves: one from Ali Al-Hassan and the other from Al-Nemer.
Al Hilal won the King's Cup for the eleventh time thanks to the saves, but Ronaldo and his squad will have to wait until the following year.
