Cristiano Ronaldo grabs hat-trick for Al Nassr after being told he is no longer Portugal’s ‘best player’

Al Nassr striker Cristiano Ronaldo has once again silenced his critics after scoring a hat-trick.

The 39-year-old scored three second-half goals against Al Tai, totaling 33 goals in all competitions this season for the Saudi side.

His hat-trick comes just days after he was told he was no longer Portugal’s “best player”, with that title now belonging to Bernardo Silva.

That’s according to European football expert Andy Brassell, who says the striker may have to get used to becoming a player in the Euro 2016 winners’ side.

He told talkSPORT: “I think Cristiano Ronaldo realizes now that sometimes he will start, and sometimes he will be a team player and that is exactly what he will have to live with.

“It’s interesting because even thinking about criticizing Ronaldo two or three years ago would have been treated as total heresy in Portugal.

“Whereas now I think people understand that Bernardo Silva is their best player.”

But Ronaldo has shown he is still capable of producing golden moments even though he is in the twilight of his career.

His first against Al Tai came in the 64th minute with a clinical strike into the bottom corner, before scoring with a half-volley and header to seal his hat-trick.

In doing so, he has now scored 64 hat-tricks in his career and has 882 career goals in all competitions.

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Taking to Instagram after the match, a jubilant Ronaldo sent a message: “This is how we do it. An incredible win and another hat-trick!”

Incredibly, he has now scored 34 hat-tricks since turning 30.

That’s 28 more than Lionel Messi has achieved, with Luis Suarez and Karim Benzema having scored five and Karim Benzema mustering just three.

Ronaldo has now won 802 matches in his career, more than any other footballer in history.