NewsRonaldo scores a perfect hat-trick in 15 minutes and sits 15 goals from 1,000
Three goals between the 66th and 81st minute gave Al Nassr a 5‑3 win over Al Kholood in Riyadh on Thursday night. Cristiano Ronaldo now has 985 career goals.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored three goals in 15 minutes as Al Nassr beat Al Kholood 5-3 at Al-Awwal Park in Riyadh on Thursday, 29 October, in Round 12 of the Saudi Pro League. The hat-trick takes him to 985 career goals for club and country, 15 short of 1,000.
Al Kholood led early. Julien Domingues scored in the 16th minute, Ângelo and Sadio Mané turned it round for Al Nassr before the break, and Loic Essomba made it 2-2 in first-half stoppage time.
Ronaldo had already had an early goal ruled out for offside. Then, from the 66th minute, he scored three times: a close-range finish from a João Félix pass, a header in the 72nd minute, again set up by Félix, and a third from a Sadio Mané pass in the 81st. Domingues scored a late penalty for Al Kholood.
A perfect hat-trick
The three goals came with his left foot, his right foot and his head, the combination football calls a perfect hat-trick. It was his first hat-trick of the 2026-27 season, according to Observador. He was named Man of the Match by the league.
João Félix set up four of Al Nassr's five goals.
The road to 1,000
Ronaldo has 985 goals for club and country. Fifteen more take him to 1,000.
The win leaves Al Nassr second in the table on 28 points from 11 games, level with leaders Al Qadsiah, who have played 12, and one point ahead of Al Hilal, who have played 10.
The result came a day after a fan vote named Ronaldo's 2008 Ballon d'Or the best of all time.
He is 41. He had a goal chalked off before half-time and came back to score three in a quarter of an hour, with both feet and his head, and still smiled for the Man of the Match photo like it was 2008. Fifteen more. I am not looking away.
- 101 Great Goals: "Al-Nassr 5-3 Al Kholood: Ronaldo moves closer to 1,000 goals with late hat-trick" (29 Oct 2026)
- VAVEL Brasil: "Gols e melhores momentos de Al-Nassr 5x3 Al Kholood no Campeonato Saudita" (29 Oct 2026)
- Observador: "Anularam-lhe dois, ele marcou três: Ronaldo faz o primeiro hat-trick da época (em 15 minutos) e fica apenas a 15 golos dos 1.000" (29 Oct 2026)
- Klix: "Ronaldo postigao hat-trick za Al-Nassr i dodatno se približio 1000. golu u karijeri" (29 Oct 2026)
- Tribuna: "Cristiano Ronaldo hits 985 career goals after perfect hat-trick for Al Nassr" (29 Oct 2026)
- ESPN: Saudi Pro League standings, read 29 Oct 2026
- Roshn Saudi League Man of the Match photo and card, Al Nassr v Al Kholood, as posted on X (29 Oct 2026)
Every factual line in this story is checked against at least two independent sources, unless the text says it comes from one report.