Portuguese Cristiano Ronaldo and Senegalese Sadio Mane led their defending champion team Al-Nasr to a major victory over Al-Ittihad 5-2, on Tuesday, in a postponed match from the 17th round of the Saudi Football League.
Al-Nasr ended Al-Ittihad’s defective complex after its Brazilian defender Fabinho was sent off in the 66th minute, and achieved a victory that had been absent for 5 years, thanks to Ronaldo, who scored two goals from two penalty kicks (19 and 68), similar to Mane (75 and 82).
Brazilian Anderson Talisca added a goal (38). Moroccan Abdel Razzaq Hamdallah scored Al-Ittihad’s two goals, scoring against Al-Nasr in the 14th and 50th minutes.
Ronaldo, who won the Ballon d’Or for the best player in the world five times, became the top scorer in 2023 by scoring 53 goals, surpassing the English Harry Kane, the German striker of Bayern Munich, and the French striker Kylian Mbappe, the French striker of Paris Saint-Germain (52 each).
The Portuguese rose to the top of the league’s top scorers after raising his tally to 19 goals, three goals ahead of his closest pursuer, Serbian Aleksandar Mitrovic, Al Hilal striker.
Al-Nasr raised its score to 43 points in second place, 7 points behind leaders Al-Hilal, while Al-Ittihad’s score froze at 28 points in 6th place after its 3rd loss in a row and 6th in the league.
Al-Ittihad achieved one victory in its last five matches in various competitions, and was in the first round of the Club World Cup when it defeated New Zealand’s Auckland City 3-0, before being eliminated from the second round by losing to Al-Ahly of Egypt 1-3.
The disappointing results prompted the federation’s management to dismiss its Portuguese coach, Nuno Espírito Santo, and it signed Argentine Marcelo Gallardo on November 18, without the latter succeeding in returning the team to its path to brilliance.
Gallardo has led Al-Ittihad in 9 matches so far, achieving victory 4 times against a draw against Al-Ettifaq, and 4 defeats in its last 5 matches in various competitions, including three in the league against its host Damak and its guest Al-Raed with one score of 1-3 and Al-Nasr.
At King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, Abdul Razzaq Hamdallah scored the first goal for Al-Ittihad after dribbling more than one player (13).
Al-Nasr players put pressure on Al-Ittihad’s defense to adjust the result, and Ali Lagami won a penalty kick after being obstructed by French striker Karim Benzema, who seemed absent from the match and did not appear at his known level. Ronaldo executed the penalty kick after a wonderful shot that hit the net of Abdullah Al-Mayouf (19).
Anastasios Sidiropoulos, the referee of the match, showed the yellow card to Faisal Al-Ghamdi after he fell inside the penalty area without being fouled (28).
Brazilian Alex Telles sent a cross to Talisca with a powerful shot, scoring the second goal (38). Hamdallah returned to equalize the score with a header, capitalizing on a cross from Brazilian Enor Conrado (50).
