Afghan Voice Agency (AVA): The convoy of Saudi Arabia's Al-Nasr football team arrived in Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, to prepare for the match against Al-Sharta team at Madina International Stadium in the framework of the first round of the Asian Premier League.
Cristiano Ronaldo, the Portuguese star, could not accompany the yellow team due to illness and did not travel to Iraq. The Iraqi fans of Cristiano, who were ready to welcome Ronaldo, were upset when they heard this news.
The al-Nasr caravan will stay at the historic Al-Rashid Hotel, which is considered one of the most luxurious hotels in the capital of Iraq.
In Baghdad, the reception of this game is high and thousands of people lined up in the places where tickets are sold. Some of them were lucky and others are still sleeping on the sidewalks hoping to get a chance to buy a ticket to the match.
After being eliminated from the quarter-finals of the last edition of the Asian Champions League by Al Ain, the defending champions of the Emirates, Al-Nasr hopes to have a strong start in the new edition of the Asian Elite League.
Iraqi official: Our country is safe and Ronaldo should not be afraid!
Despite the official announcement of the absence of Cristiano Ronaldo, the captain of Al-Nasr, in the match against Al-Sharta football team, from the first week of the elite league competition, which was held by this Saudi club, one of the officials of the Iraqi Football Union cannot believe this news.
On Sunday morning, Nasr Sobh published a statement through his official account on the "X" social network and announced that Ronaldo could not participate in the game due to a viral infection and was unable to travel to Iraq.
When the presenter of the program asked the head of the security committee of the Iraqi Football Association, Mahmoud Abu Al-Taman, if he denied the news that Ronaldo did not come to Iraq, he replied: "No, we do not deny this news, but I assure Al-Nasr that Iraq is a safe country. "There is no problem for Ronaldo to be in our country."
He continued: "We have informed the Al-Nasr team not to pay attention to the news of the yellow media. "Iraq is currently one of the safest countries in the region."
When the presenter of the program announced again that the news of Ronaldo's absence was announced on the official page of Al-Nasr, Abu Eltman said: "Yes, it is true, but I think that the announcement of his absence is only to deceive the fans and scare them. Because we had agreed that Ronaldo would come to Baghdad."