Al Nassr striker Cristiano Ronaldo has once again silenced his critics after grabbing a hat-trick.
The 39-year-old scored three second half goals against Al Tai to bring up 33 goals in all competitions this season for the Saudi outfit.
His treble comes just days after he was told that he is no longer Portugal’s ‘best player’, with that title now belonging to Bernardo Silva.
That is according to European football expert Andy Brassell, who claimed that the forward may have to get used to becoming a squad player for the Euro 2016 winners.
He told talkSPORT: “I think Cristiano Ronaldo realises now that sometimes he’ll start, and sometimes he’ll be a squad player and that is just what he’s going to have to live with.
“It’s interesting because to even think about criticising Ronaldo two or three years ago would have been treated as complete heresy in Portugal.
“Whereas now, I think people understand that Bernardo Silva is their best player.”
But Ronaldo showed he is still capable of producing golden moments despite being in the twilight of his career.
His first against Al Tai came in the 64th minute with a clinical strike into the bottom corner, before he scored with a half-volley and a header to seal his hat-trick.
In doing so, he has now scored 64 hat-tricks in his career, and is on 882 career goals and counting in all competitions.
Taking to Instagram after the match, a jubilant Ronaldo messaged: “This is how we do it. Amazing victory and another hat-trick!”
Incredibly, he has now banged in 34 trebles since he has turned 30.
That is 28 more than Lionel Messi has achieved, with Luis Suarez and Karim Benzema registering five and Karim Benzema mustering just three.
Ronaldo has now won 802 matches in his career – more than any other footballer in history.
