RIYADH: It was December 2023, Friday night football under the lights, the Riyadh Derby between Al-Hilal and Al-Nassr. I was staying in a small hotel near King Fahd Stadium and there was a real sense of excitement among guests over breakfast.

There was a Chinese woman who had just dropped off her son at Edinburgh University, and on her way back home to Guangzhou she took a detour to attend the game. A family of four from Baghdad were also there, all of them wearing the yellow shirts of Al-Nassr, as well as a father and son from Cairo.

This international audience had come to see Al-Nassr’s new signing: Cristiano Ronaldo. As I made the short walk to the stadium, fans on foot and in cars shouted, “Are you here to see Cristiano?”

The Riyadh Derby was already a big event in its own right, but there did seem to be something different in the air this time.

I saw Ronaldo score a goal at the 2006 World Cup against Iran, but as he rose to prominence in the game I was living in Asia and had been covering the game in that region since before he made his debut for Sporting in 2002. So although I knew that he was a megastar, I did not, perhaps, quite appreciate the pull he had and just how famous he was.

His presence could certainly be felt in Riyadh that night, despite a 3-0 defeat for Al-Nassr, as the 50,000-plus crowd in the stadium watched one of the true football greats in action. But that wasn’t the main takeaway; it was just amazing, the level of interest he generated — still generates.

Some have argued that Ronaldo is the most famous person in the world, in terms of recognition. On social media, where he has 680 million followers on Instagram alone, that certainly seems to be the case. But in real life, too, the player transcends the sport in a way that few in its history have managed.

I have covered every AFC Champions League since the tournament began in 2002, and the competition had always struggled to make an impression on the average football fan in some parts of the continent. Then Ronaldo arrived.

Simply the prospect of Al-Nassr visiting their countries had fans in the western half of Asia rushing to buy tickets when previously, group games usually went by without much fanfare. Often Ronaldo, so important to his club, did not even travel with the squad for away games. The disappointment among the fans on those occasions was huge but demonstrated, once again, that this was a figure who took football out of the sports sections of newspapers and websites and onto the main news pages.

The big news this week, of course, was his retirement from international football. It is therefore an appropriate time to reflect on an international career that has been simply sensational; he steps down having scored 146 goals, a world record, in 234 appearances for Portugal.

His retirement from international duty is good news for Al-Nassr fans, in the sense that the forward, now 41, will no longer be playing for his country. This means that during the next international break, Ronaldo will not be traveling around Europe and playing football. Having that chance to rest and focus on his club can only be a good thing for Al-Nassr, especially with the club competing on more than one front; as well as defending their Saudi Pro League title, they would love nothing more than to win a first Champions League title, too.

His decision is not entirely positive news for the yellow army, however; after hanging up those international boots, how long before he decides to do the same with his club career? At the time of writing, he sits on 985 career goals and, at his current scoring rate, should reach the landmark of 1,000 goals at some point this season.

If and when he does break that barrier, it will be huge for Al-Nassr and Saudi football as a whole. As soon as he gets within five or six goals of that magical total, the eyes of the world are going to be on every game he plays.

But there is perhaps already a sense of fans wondering what will come next after that amazing achievement. The five-time Ballon d’Or recipient and winner of five UEFA Champions League titles, multiple domestic leagues and the Euro 2016 championship might well decide there is not much else left to achieve, especially if Al-Nassr did manage to win the AFC Champions League Elite.

In short, the Ronaldo situation in Portugal this week will be echoed at some point in Saudi Arabia, and probably fairly soon.

Whatever happens in the future, though, supporters all around the country will be able to console themselves with the fact that they had the chance to bear witness to a career in football that was unprecedented. For now, Al-Nassr fans should just enjoy what they have, while they still have it.