Cristiano Ronaldo was back in the Al Nassr side on Saturday night and marked his return with the opening goal as the Riyadh club picked up a 2-0 win at Al Fateh.
Ronaldo last played in the 3-0 win over Al Kholood on January 30. He missed three games, two in the league and one in Asian competition. Nassr won all three in his absence.
The 41-year-old sat out the games as he was reported to be unhappy with how the club was being run by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF). It was claimed Ronaldo felt that title rivals Al Hilal, also majority owned by the PIF, were being given preferential treatment following their January signing of Karim Benzema from Al Ittihad.
That led to the Saudi Pro League saying “no individual – however significant – determines decisions beyond their own club”.
Al Nassr had teased Ronaldo's return to action with a social media post showing the captain's armband sat next to his shirt in the dressing room.
And it took just 18 minutes for him to make his mark as he diverted a low cross into the far corner to make it 1-0. Ronaldo, who turned 41 while away from the team, now has 962 career goals in his pursuit of reaching 1,000.
Ayman Yahya wrapped up the victory on 78 minutes as Nassr moved to within a single point of Hilal at the top of the table.
Hilal had beaten Al Ettifaq 2-0 on Friday night thanks to goals from Mohamed Kanno and Salem Al Dawsari. Al Ahli, who are two points further back in third, routed Al Shabab 5-2.
Hilal host Abu Dhabi side Al Wahda on Monday as part of the Asian Champions League's final round of league phase fixtures. Al Ahli host Dubai's Shabab Al Ahli. Nassr, who are in the second tier AFC Cup, host Turkmenistan's FK Arkadag on Wednesday.
