The popular Spanish newspaper Mundo Deportivo confirmed that the Saudi al-nasr overcame a real challenge, represented by the absence of captain Cristiano Ronaldo for the last match against Al Faiha in the Professional League.

The paper highlighted the confrontation under the headline: “al-nasr overcomes early suffering to win despite Mane missing the penalty”, and said that despite Sadio Mane missing an early penalty, al-nasr won the Saudi League match against Al Fayha 3/1, where Mane compensated himself for two late goals.

“Although he suffered an early setback with the goal of former Rangers striker Vashen Sakala, Luis Castro’s side recovered to seal al-nasr at the first stadium,” the newspaper said.

The newspaper also said Cristiano Ronaldo’s absence from a suspension, due to a red card in the Copa del Rey semi-final, posed a challenge to al-nasr. However, Mane had a chance to adjust the score from the penalty spot before half-time and, unfortunately, the Senegalese striker’s shot rose over the bar, leaving his side late at half-time.

“As the game progressed, al-nasr regained its momentum, with Saudi defender Abdul Ilah al-Amiri levelling the score in the 72nd minute, before Mane recovered later in the game, scoring two successive goals in the 76th minute, including one with a great individual effort.”

The al-nasr secured victory the chance to qualify for the AFC Champions League “Elite Cup” next season, after the gap with the fourth-placed cooperation rose to 20 points with only 6 games left to cooperate.

The paper concluded by referring to Cristiano Ronaldo’s congratulations to his colleagues on winning on social media.