Saudi giants Al‑Nassr arrived in Ashgabat for the first leg of the AFC Champions League Two round-of-16 tie against Turkmenistan’s Arkadag with a heavily weakened squad. Several superstars stayed behind in Riyadh, including Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mané.
Photos released by Al-Nassr’s media team from the airport in Ashgabat showed no sign of the club’s marquee names. Absent were Ronaldo, Mané, Marcelo Brozović, Kingsley Coman and several other foreign stars. According to Eurasia Football, the only top-tier name to make the trip was Brazilian goalkeeper Bento. Seven academy players were also included in the matchday squad.
Ronaldo’s omission had been widely anticipated. The Portuguese forward recently protested delayed wage payments to club staff, skipped training sessions and missed two league matches. After the dispute appeared to be settled, he posted club-coloured emojis on social media and returned to training. Reports suggested he would feature against Al‑Fateh on 14 February, but travelling to Turkmenistan was never on the agenda. In fact, Ronaldo has previously bypassed trips to Central Asia: when Al-Nassr were twice grouped with Dushanbe’s Istiklol in the AFC Champions League, he did not play in either encounter.
The absence of other stars appears largely down to scheduling. The Arkadag match takes place on 11 February, just days before a crucial away league fixture against Al-Fateh. The Saudi title race is tight, and dropped points are costly. Ronaldo himself is said to be frustrated that he has yet to win a major trophy since moving to Saudi Arabia.
That contrasts with Al-Nassr’s previous visit to Dushanbe in the group stage, when headline names did make the journey—even if Ronaldo did not. Back in December 2023, despite having a domestic league match three days later and little riding on the continental fixture, then-head coach Luís Castro brought Mané and Aymeric Laporte along. Neither played, but their presence alone was a treat for Tajik fans.
This time, however, the situation could favour Arkadag—an ambitious, well-organised side that has developed a reputation for upsetting supposedly superior opponents. There is a sense that Jorge Jesus may be overly confident and risk underestimating the hosts. Arkadag, after all, have yet to lose a single competition since the club’s creation. Critics may scoff at their domestic winning streak, but the Turkmen outfit are the reigning AFC Challenge League champions and reached the Champions League Two knockout rounds on merit.
In the group phase they finished ahead of Uzbekistan Cup holders Andijan and Bahrain’s Al‑Khaldiya, while drawing twice with section leaders Al‑Ahli Doha—a side featuring Germany international Julian Draxler and Ivorian defender Ibrahima Diallo.
Arkadag have also strengthened their coaching staff by appointing one of Turkmenistan’s most recognisable managers, Mergen Orazov, who recently returned from Lithuania after working with Dainava Alytus and earning a UEFA Pro Licence. He now partners the architect of the club’s previous successes, Vladimir Bayramov.
Squad continuity has largely been preserved, with most of the players who lifted the AFC Challenge League trophy and reached the current knockout stage still on board. There are setbacks, though: tournament MVP Shanazar Tirkişov is injured; top scorer Altymurad Annadurdyyev is only just returning to fitness; and key defender Abdy Bashimov has recently come back after a lay-off. Reinforcements have arrived too—winger Meilis Diniyev from Kyrgyzstan and striker Rahman Muratberdiyev from Altyn Asyr, whose brace against Bhutan’s Paro FC proved decisive in the Challenge League group stage.
One statistic stands out above all: Arkadag have never lost at home. That record adds an extra layer of belief for both players and staff. Visiting teams openly admit how difficult it is to play in Turkmenistan. Crucially, Arkadag are accustomed to operating with limited resources—foreign players are effectively absent from the domestic league—yet Turkmen clubs remain competitive internationally, and the national team is on the brink of qualifying for the Asian Cup.
It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Al-Nassr may come to regret how casually they treated this trip to Ashgabat.
