Al-Nassr captain Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly flown his family out of Saudi Arabia to Madrid, Spain, following a wave of retaliatory drone strikes in Riyadh that targeted the United States Embassy.
Portuguese football icon Cristiano Ronaldo has reportedly departed Saudi Arabia for Madrid, Spain, as regional tensions reach a breaking point following the death of Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. According to reports by the Daily Mail on Tuesday, March 3, 2026, the 41-year-old Al-Nassr forward left Riyadh late Monday night aboard his £61 million ($81 million) Bombardier Global Express 6500 private jet. The move comes as the Middle East is engulfed in a series of retaliatory strikes, with the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh being targeted by two drones overnight, causing fires and visible damage to the diplomatic compound.
The departure follows a massive escalation in the four-day-old conflict, which began with joint U.S.-Israeli military strikes on Tehran on February 28. Iranian state media confirmed early on March 1 that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was killed in the bombardment, prompting the Islamic Republic to declare 40 days of mourning and launch “Operation True Promise 4” against U.S. and Israeli assets. “Riyadh, where Ronaldo lives with his partner Georgina Rodriguez and their five children, has been affected by attacks linked to the regional conflict,” the report noted, as foreign nationals begin a mass exodus from the Gulf region amid warnings from the U.S. State Department to “Depart Now.”
Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 confirmed the high-profile exit, showing that Ronaldo’s aircraft “departed Riyadh at 8:00 pm and arrived in Madrid at almost 1:00 am, flying a path over Egypt and the Mediterranean.” The relocation comes at a time when major sporting events in the region, including the AFC Champions League Two quarter-finals, have been postponed indefinitely due to the violence. While Al-Nassr has not issued an official statement on their captain’s status, sources indicate the flight was a precautionary measure to ensure the safety of his family after Iranian state media claimed retaliatory strikes had also destroyed a command and staff building in neighboring Bahrain.