Cristiano Ronaldo’s penalty kick helped Al Nassr win 2-0 at Al Ta’ee, thereby continuing to chase the top of the table Al Ittihad with a three-point difference.
Ronaldo (right) celebrates with teammates after scoring in the match Al Nassr beat Al Ta’ee on May 16. Photo: Al Nassr
Despite having to be a guest, Al Nassr dominated when he controlled the ball 55%, finished 17 times with five shots on target, while Al Taee missed the target for all nine shots.
In particular, Ronaldo played prominently when he touched the ball 39 times, passed with 84% accuracy and finished three times. The Portuguese striker’s first impression came in the 23rd minute with a close-range header caught by goalkeeper Victor Braga.
Five minutes later, Ronaldo fired his left foot cannon from outside the box, but was still pushed by Braga to the crossbar. At the beginning of the second half, he continued to have a left foot shot from outside the box, this time the ball went wide of the post.
The difference came in the 48th minute, when Al Sulaiheem disputed with a home player and fell in the penalty area. After consulting VAR, the referee awarded Al Nassr a penalty. On the 11m mark, Ronaldo shot to the right corner. Braga guessed the right direction but couldn’t touch the ball.
This is Ronaldo’s 13th goal in 14 appearances in the Saudi League. With three games left, the former Man Utd and Real Madrid striker is hard to catch up with Abderrazak Hamdallah – striker Al Ittihad is leading the list of top scorers with 20 goals.
In the 80th minute, Anderson Talisca cut midfielder Al Taee’s pass and finished close to the goal to seal a 2-0 victory. In the match at the same time, Al Ittihad was held to a 2-2 draw by Al Hilal with an equalizer in the fourth minute of the second half.
With these results, Al Nassr rekindled their championship hopes when they currently have 60 points, three points behind Al Ittihad when the season has three rounds left. In the remaining matches, Ronaldo and his teammates met Al Shabab on May 23, Al Ettifaq on May 27 and Al Fateh on May 30, respectively.
Starting lineup
Al-Ta’ee : Braga, Fai, Majrashi, Semedo, Quassem, Sayoud, Dener, Ali, Harzan, Musona, Mbnza
Al-Nassr : Rossi, Sultan, Gonzalez, Lajami, Konan, Gustavo, Alkhaibari, Alsulaihem, Ghareeb, Talisca, Ronaldo
