Cristiano Ronaldo scores trademark header for Al-Nassr as he dedicates goal to his late father

Cristiano Ronaldo appeared to dedicate a goal to his late father after scoring for Al-Nassr in a crucial Saudi Pro League clash on Friday night.

He scored a header to put his side 2-0 up after Sadio Mane's opener in the early season top-of-the-table clash. 

And the Portugal legend, 40, looked to the heavens and pointed in what seemed to be tribute to his dad, Jose Dinis Aveiro, more than 20 years on after he passed away.

Jose died of liver failure on September 6, 2005 when Ronaldo was just 20. In just a few days, on September 30, the family will mark what would have been his 72nd birthday. 

Ronaldo has been eager to pay tributes through his football to a man who he still thinks about a lot.

Last year, he dedicated a goal he scored against Al-Rayyan in the Asian Champions League to Jose and said: 'Today's goal has a different flavor… I wish my father was alive because today is his birthday.'

And in an interview with Piers Morgan in 2019, the forward broke down in tears as he was shown a clip of his father speaking baout him on his doorstep ahead of Euro 2004. 

His father, an alcoholic and former soldier, would die of liver failure a year later at the age of 52, missing out on much of Ronaldo's success and the birth of his four children.

In tears, Ronaldo said during the hour-long interview with Morgan: 'I never saw the video. I never saw that video. Unbelievable.'

Asked how it felt to hear his father talking of his pride at his son's achievements, the former Manchester United and Real Madrid player added: 'Yes, a lot.

'I think the interview would be funny, but I didn't expect to cry. But I never saw these images. I don't know where you... I have to have these images to show my family.

'But I really don't know my father 100 per cent. He was a drunk person. I never spoke with him, like a normal conversation. It was hard.'

Ronaldo was just 20 when his father passed away, meaning he missed many of the biggest moments of his football career.

These include winning five Champions League titles and five Ballon d'Ors as well as leading his country to Euro 2016 and Nations League glory. He also missed the birth of Ronaldo's four children.

Ronaldo said his father was affected by wars in Mozambique and Angola and added: 'To be the number one and he don't see nothing, and he don't see me receive awards, to see what I became.

'My family see, my mum, my brothers, even my old son, but my father, he didn't see nothing, and it was... he died young.'

A childhood friend of Jose, who served with him in the army, said that the former soldier used to brag about how his son would be the best player in the world one day.

According to ESPN, another friend said that, after the war, he and Ronaldo's father 'were abandoned'.

He said: 'The war veterans didn't have any money and no work. Of course when I see Ronaldo, I remember his dad. He had problems and didn't have anything to eat, so he would turn to drinking. His friends would buy him drinks. He didn't have any money. He didn't eat properly.'