New Delhi: Portuguese manager Luis Castro has left Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr following a disappointing start to the club’s Saudi Pro League campaign. Despite having huge names like Cristiano Ronaldo, Aymeric Laporte, Sadio Mane, and Marcelo Brozović, the Riyadh-based club have only managed to win two of their opening six games of the season, drawing their most recent fixture in the AFC Champions League against Iraqi side Al-Shorta SC.
The manager only joined the club at the beginning of last season, replacing caretaker manager Dinko Jeličić who took charge of the club after French manager Rudi Garcia was sacked midway through the 2022/23 season. Castro had a good beginning to his SPL career, winning the SPL manager of the month for September as he guided his team to a perfect month, winning all of their four league fixtures in September.
AlNassr can announce that Head Coach Luis Castro has left the Club.
Everyone at AlNassr would like to thank Luis and his staff for their dedicated work during the past 14 months, wishing them the best of luck for the future. pic.twitter.com/FznpvPHG0T
— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) September 17, 2024
Luis Castro was appointed as Al Nassr manager after a successful stint with Brazilian side Botafogo. He guided the Brazilian club to their best-ever Série A start in eight rounds and also won the 2023 edition of the Taça Rio with the club. He managed to win a trophy with Al Nassr as well, guiding the club to the 2023 Arab Club Champions Cup, defeating Al Hilal in the final as Ronaldo scored a brace to win the title after extra time.
Close, but no Cigar: Luis Castro’s time at Al-Nassr
Luis Castro faced a lot of disappointments as Al Nassr manager last season. (Photo by Diogo Cardoso/Getty Images)
While the Portuguese’s tenure at the club was a fairly successful one at a glance, with the team losing only four games in the league, scoring over 150 goals all season and winning the Arab Club Champions Cup, the cracks in the season are visible on a deeper look. It was a season of near misses for the manager as he couldn’t deliver the goods despite reaching so deep into multiple tournaments.
The phrase ‘so close, yet so far’ defines Al-Nassr’s 2023/24 season as apart from the Champions Cup, the club seemed to perennially finish behind Al-Hilal which can be frustrating for any club. Despite having a good league season, Al Nassr could only finish second in the league, a whopping 14 points behind champions Al-Hilal. Star man Cristiano Ronaldo scored an incredible 50 goals for the side all season but couldn’t help his side win silverware.
After a summer of marquee additions to a squad that already boasted Ronaldo, the club hierarchy expected more silverware from their manager but that wasn’t to be. Apart from losing out the league title to Al-Hilal, the Riyadh based side were also defeated in the King Cup final, losing the title on penalties. Al-Hilal were once again present to spoil the party for Castro as they knocked his side out of the Saudi Super Cup in the semi-finals while Dubai’s Al Ain knocked them out of the AFC Champions League in the quarter-finals.
Who will replace him?
According to reports on social media, Ronaldo’s club are already looking at replacements for Luis Castro and have identified Italian manager Stefano Pioli as the man to replace the departed Portuguese. The Italian last managed AC Milan and left the club at the end of last season after helping them rebuild after years of instability. He also won the only trophy of his managerial career at Milan, guiding them to the 2021-22 Serie A title.
He guided Milan to their first league title in years which helped him win the 2021-2022 Serie A Coach of the Season and the 2022 Serie A Coach of the Year awards. According to reports, Pioli is set to sign as the new Al-Nassr head coach in the next days. He was close to being appointed the manager of Al-Ittihad in the summer before a change in hierarchy at the club saw the move fall through at the last minute and they decided to appoint French manager Laurent Blanc.
The Saudi Pro League club announced on social media that the Portuguese coach left the side after just 14 months in charge of the club. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
