RIYADH: Cristiano Ronaldo insists he is focused on being the perfect team member at Saudi side Al-Nassr rather than collecting more individual accolades in the twilight of his career. The 39-year-old, who has won the Ballon d’Or award five times, scored in Al-Nassr’s 2-1 win over Al-Rayyan of Qatar in their AFC Champions League Group B match on Monday.

It was the club’s fourth successive victory in all competitions under new coach Stefano Pioli, who replaced Luis Castro last month. “It was a strong and difficult match like all the matches in the AFC Champions League, but the most important thing is that we created many chances and defended well to prevent the opponent from creating easy chances,” Ronaldo told a press conference.

“It is not important anymore whether I am the best or not, I no longer care about that. It is good for a player to score goals, but for me it is better for the team to win. I am used to breaking records and I no longer look for them. The most important thing for me now is to enjoy and help Al-Nassr and my teammates to win.”

Ronaldo became the top scorer in a single season in the Saudi Pro League last May with 35 goals. The Portugal captain also scored his 901st career goal in a 2-1 win over Scotland in the Nations League last month. “My goal against Al-Rayyan was different and important because my father would have been happy with it if he was alive, as today (yesterday) is his birthday,” the former Real Madrid, Juventus and Manchester United forward added.

Successful debut

Ronaldo helped new Al-Nassr manager Stefano Pioli enjoy a successful AFC Champions League Elite debut on Monday. Sadio Mane gave Al-Nassr the lead at Al Awwal Park in first-half stoppage time, the former Liverpool and Bayern Munich forward meeting Sultan Al-Ghannam’s superb deep cross to head home from close range.

Ronaldo, making his first appearance in the rebranded Asian Champions League having missed last week’s 1-1 opening draw against Iraqi club Al-Shorta, had a goal disallowed for a narrow offside at the beginning of the second half.

Undeterred, the five-time UEFA Champions League winner doubled Al-Nassr’s advantage on 76 minutes when he received Abdulrahman Ghareeb’s pass and curled a beautiful left-footed strike into the net. The hosts were given a scare late on, though, Brazilian Roger Guedes scoring off Aschraf Bencharki’s low center at the back post. Still, Al-Nassr held on to make it four points from two matches.

Al-Ahli cruise

Saudi Arabian counterparts, Al-Ahli, recorded a second successive win to begin their Asian campaign, with Riyad Mahrez inspiring the visitors to a 2-0 victory at UAE champions Al-Wasl in Dubai.

The former Manchester City winger opened the scoring at Zabeel Stadium on three minutes. Meeting defender Roger Ibanez’s excellent long pass over the Al-Wasl defense, Mahrez controlled the ball expertly before prodding a shot low into the corner.

Al-Ahli, who began the match with summer signing Ivan Toney up front, doubled their lead seven minutes before half-time, when the two same players combined. This time, it was Mahrez who turned provider, curling a corner onto the head of Ibanez for the former Roma center-back to powerfully nod home.

The win offers some respite to manager Matthias Jaissle. The German, 36, has come under heavy criticism this past week following Al-Ahli’s elimination from the King’s Cup to second-tier Al-Jandal and Friday’s Saudi Pro League defeat to Al-Qadsiah.

Meanwhile, 2011 Asian champions Al-Sadd of Qatar secured a 2-0 win against Iran’s Esteghlal at the Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium in Doha. An own goal from visiting goalkeeper Hossein Hosseini and an Akram Afif penalty settled the tie. Also on Monday, Iran’s Persepolis were held to a 1-1 draw at home by Pakhtakor FC despite taking a first-minute lead at Shahr-E Qods Stadium in Qods.

The AFC Champions League Elite features 24 teams – 12 from West Asia and 12 from East Asia. With each club playing four matches at home and four away, the top eight in each side of the draw progress to the knockout stages early next year. The eventual winner receives $10 million in prize money, an increase from $4 million last season. — Agencies