Al Nassr, the nine-time Saudi Pro League Champions, was hardly on the radar of football fans in Kerala till now.
But that seems to have changed overnight, going by the number of WhatsApp fans groups that have cropped up ever since the Portuguese maestro Cristiano Ronaldo signed for the club in a deal that runs till 2025. Though they are mostly named Al Nassr Fans Kerala, there is no disguising the fact that they are predominantly Ronaldo fan groups.
At least three groups with 1,000 members each have been formed so far and are still counting since the signing was publicised. “As soon as Ronaldo signed for Al Nassr, social media was flooded with memes targeting him, and we chose to prove that his fanbase remains as solid as ever,” said Ashfaq P.K., admin of one of the groups.
However, Ronaldo fans alleged that the groups had been “infiltrated” by many Lionel Messi fans thus turning them into yet another platform for what seems to be an eternal fight between fans of the two legendary players.
“That happens with every such group, and we will do a ‘cleansing’ in due course. There are fans who idolise Ronaldo despite following a different football club, and then there are many who shift their allegiance with the teams that he plays for,” said Ashfaq.
Messi fans, however, did not waste any time in poking fun at their rivals citing how Ronaldo was unwanted by European football clubs. Fans of CR7, as Ronaldo is also known, retorted by sharing screenshots of Al Nassr’s Instagram page where the number of followers skyrocketed beyond 3.8 million and counting to surpass Kerala Blasters as the most followed Asian football club as evidence of their idol’s aura. But not happy with that, CR7 fans further wanted to make their idol’s Instagram posts more liked than Messi’s World Cup celebration post, which had set a new record on Instagram.
The groups were also rife with discussions over whether Ronaldo will make his debut during Al Nassr’s match against Al Khaleej on Saturday night even as they geared up for watching the match via live streaming.