At 39 years of age, Cristiano Ronaldo is not what he once used to be. However, the former Real Madrid and Manchester United forward keeps on producing numbers that ought to bewilder even his haters.  

Al Nassr forward Ronaldo scored his 43rd goal this year -- and his 916th overall -- when he equalised soon after his former Real Madrid teammate Karim Benzema put Al Ittihad ahead in their Saudi Pro League game at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah on Friday. 

However, Benzema had the last laugh as Al Ittihad won that fixture 2-1, courtesy of a stoppage-time strike from former Tottenham Hotspur forward Steven Bergwign. 

The win saw Al Ittihad move to the top of the Saudi Pro League table with 36 points from 13 games while Al Nassr dropped to fourth, managing 25 points from as many games. 

Craving his first league title with his Saudi club, Ronaldo refuses to give up in the title race just yet. "We will come back stronger," wrote the Portuguese legend on his official Facebook page, alongside a picture of him in a huddle with his Al Nassr teammates, after the game. 

And Ronaldo has every reason to be confident as he managed to finish the year strong -- in 51 appearances for both club and country in 2024, the superstar also has seven assists to make it 50 goal involvements for him in 2024. 

Ronaldo, who will next be seen in action on January 9 next year when Al Nassr take on Al Akhdoud in a Saudi Pro League game, has scored a goal in every 103 minutes and had a goal involvement in every 89 minutes this year. 

Relentless in his pursuit of becoming the first footballer to score 1000 career goals, Ronaldo will only hope to keep on going at this rate or even better himself come 2025.