A big surprise .. Pioli excludes Ronaldo from facing Persepolis, what are the reasons

In an unexpected step, Italian coach Stefano Pioli, coach of the Saudi Al -Nasr Club, decided to exclude Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo from the team's list to face the Iranian Persepolis in the AFC Champions League.

The decision sparked widespread controversy among the fans, especially with the importance of the meeting, but the Italian coach has the convincing reasons that prompted him to make this shocking decision.

According to the reports of the newspaper "Al -Sharq Al -Awsat", Bioli's decision to remove Ronaldo from this important confrontation was due to his desire to give the Portuguese star a rest, due to the compressed schedule faced by the team in the recent period.

The Italian coach seeks to maintain Ronaldo's readiness for the next decisive matches, especially in light of fierce competition for local and continental titles.

Victory is playing a series of strong matches in a short period of time, which is a great pressure on the main players, especially as Ronaldo gets old and his need to manage his physical effort wisely to ensure his continuity in high performance.

Ronaldo was not the only one who was excluded from the victory list for this match, as Bioli also decided not to involve Abdullah Al -Khaibri, Sultan Al -Ghannam, and the Portuguese Otavio.

The trio was exposed to varying injuries during the recent confrontation against Al -Ahly, which made the technical staff prefer not to risk them in the Persepolis match, to ensure their return with the best readiness in the upcoming matches.