Mighty Mexican: Quinones rivals Ronaldo at top of fight for golden boot | OneFootball

For the first time in a while, Cristiano Ronaldo has company at the top of the 2025-26 Roshn Saudi League scoring charts.

The two-time golden boot winner overtook Al Nassr teammate Joao Felix back in Matchweek 14 and has since added to his tally to move to 16 goals for the season.

But, on Sunday night at in Buraidah, Julian Quinones joined him. The red-hot Mexico striker notched the middle of Al Qadsiah’s three goals at Al Najmah to help his side to a 3-1 win and further propel their title bid.

Eighteen matchweeks in, and Brendan Rodgers' free-flowing new side are fourth in the standings, five points off leaders Al Hilal.

Instrumental in that, Quinones is actually fighting on twin RSL fronts. The 28-year-old is among the most in-form forwards in the division right now - see also Al Ahli’s Ivan Toney - his perfectly timed run and expert finish at Al Najmah meaning he has found the net 14 times in his past 11 top-flight matches.

Indeed, a double three days earlier against Al Ittihad saw Quinones become the fifth-fastest player in the Saudi Pro League era to reach 35 league goals. He required only 41 matches.

And, in doing so, he’s behind premier marksmen Abderrazak Hamdallah (27), Aleksandar Mitrovic (32), Ronaldo (35) and Omar Al Somah (37). Al Somah and Hamdallah rank as the top two strikers in RSL history.

Indeed, Quinones boasts this season’s best goals-per-minute ratio among all players with two or more goals, scoring at a rate of once every 75.5 minutes. For comparison, the evergreen Ronaldo sits at a goal every 89.5.

“As I said before, they are just numbers,” Quinones responded following another goal, and another Man of the Match award - his sixth successive for Al Qadsiah - on Sunday. “The support of my teammates has been very important to be able to fight for the [golden boot]. I owe everything to them and to the coaching staff.

“This is a result of the efforts of my teammates. I thank them for this; I also thank the technical staff for what they have done. But as I said, the most important thing is the team, and the most important thing is to continue in this level.”

Quinones is continuing his own trend, too. Having arrived that summer from Club America, he went on to rival Ronaldo for last season’s golden boot. By the end of his debut campaign in the Kingdom, Quinones had 20 goals in 28 appearances, clocking in at a goal every 122 minutes.

Only Hamdallah (21), Karim Benzema (21), Ivan Toney (23) and Ronaldo (25) scored more through 2024-25. This term, though, Quinones is looking down at everyone else, bar of course, his Al Nassr counterpart.

However, when pressed following the Al Najmah win about going toe-to-toe with Ronaldo for the top-scorer prize, like the Buraidah night, Quinones played it cool.

The team, he emphasised, represent the priority.

“Of course, we will continue to work as we have been working in the past,” Quinones said. “But personally? Personally, I feel good. We will continue to build game after game. Now we have to think about the next game.

“I will do my job as I did in the previous games. Otherwise, we will continue in our performance and wait for the next game.”

That upcoming assignment just so happens to be a home encounter with Al Hilal, on Thursday. With Quinones in red-hot form, Rodgers’ surging side will fancy their chances of an eighth successive league victory - and a sizeable step forward in this gripping 2025-26 title race.