Cristiano Ronaldo, the star of al-nasr, led his team to a valuable 1-0 victory over Ahli Jeddah in the stadium “Radioactive Jewel” on Friday, with the 24th round of the Saudi Professional League.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored the game’s only goal from the penalty spot in the 68th minute.
The Ahli fans raised “Tevo”, entitled “Team Horror” at the start of the match, but “Al-Raqi” received its first defeat at the stadium in the league since the beginning of the season.
Al-Nasr secured his position in second place in the table, after taking his balance to 56 points, to move 9 points clear of Al-Ahli, the third place.
Unfinished Joy
El-Nasr coach Luis Castro suffered an early shock with Abdullah al-Khaibri’s injury during warm-ups, forcing him to push Sami al-Naja ‘i instead of him in the middle of the pitch.
The two teams shared control over the course of the first three hours, but did not threaten the two targets with genuine targeting opportunities.
The match against Al Ahly was tipped to benefit from massive public support in the stands, and Roberto Firmino almost threatened the goal at the 35th minute, but could not catch a cross inside the six-yard box.
The game ignited, and Al Ahly threatened the al-nasr goal with the first real chance in the 37th minute, when Riyad Mahrez sent a cross from a corner, around which Merih Demiral headed, but it hit the crossbar.
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al-nasr regained the reins, and Ronaldo surprised Al Ahly after shaking Edouard Mendy’s net 3 minutes before halftime, following an impressive build-up from Sadio Mane.
But, after Cristiano celebrated with the victory players, VAR ruled out the goal because of the Portuguese star’s offside.
The scoreless draw dominated the first half, although the first 45 minutes of the first leg of the “First Park” stadium, last September, saw 4 goals (3-1 for victory).
Two consecutive strikes
Ronaldo received a pass by mistake from Said Al Obeid, the defender of Al Ahly, to find himself alone in the goal, but Don rejected the gift and missed the opportunity in the second minute of the second half.
In a duplicate scenario of the first half, Firmino rattled the al-nasr net with a solitary goal after Alan Saint-Maximan’s intervention, but the video technology referee cancelled out the goal for offside.
Matthias Yesselah, the head coach of Al-Ahli, suffered a painful blow after Ali Al-Asmari was injured in the first match he played as a regular this season, entering Ziad Al-Jahani
Just 5 minutes later, Ronaldo added to Yessele’s troubles by scoring a victory goal from the penalty spot, which he struck on Mendy’s right, after Ibanez obstructed his counterpart Sami Al-Najri inside the area.
Al-Najhi missed the opportunity to score a second goal 9 minutes before the end of the original time, after slowing down against Mendy in private following an error pass from Al-Ahly’s defence in the box, but that did not affect victory.