Cristiano Ronaldo passes up a chance to score a hat-trick of penalties in favour of supporting his goalless teammate – but is immediately made to rue the decision after he squanders the chance

Cristiano Ronaldo’s show of support to his Al-Nassr teammate during the club’s 4-0 win on Tuesday has caught the eye of many on social media. 

Not often lauded for his selflessness, the 38-year-old handed the ball to Abdulrahman Ghareeb when presented with the opportunity to score a hat-trick in back-to-back games. 

The home fans at KSU Football Field were not best pleased by the decision and it was left to Ronaldo and former Liverpool star Sadio Mane to whip the faithful into line. 

Ronaldo had by this point already scored twice from the spot before setting up another for Mane as the Riyadh-based outfit enjoyed a 3-0 lead over Al-Shabab at the break. 

But following the award of the third spot-kick for the home side the superstar offered the chance for Ghareeb, searching for his first goal of the campaign, to score but his effort struck the woodwork. 

Cristiano Ronaldo has bagged five goals in the opening three games of the league season

To add insult to injury, the 26-year-old reacted quickest before taking a couple of touches and finding the net. However, the taker of a set-piece cannot have two consecutive touches and as a result the goal was ruled out. 

Ronaldo was then seen giving some words of encouragement to Ghareeb whose wait for a maiden goal goes on. 

Al-Nassr did eventually score a fourth goal courtesy of full-back Sultan Al-Ghannam as last season’s runners-up took their record to two wins and two defeats from four games. 

Al-Ittihad, fit with Karim Benzema, N’Golo Kante and Fabinho, are the league’s early pace setters, along with the Roberto Firmino-Riyad Mahrez-led Al-Ahli. Both sides have recorded maximum points from their opening four games.