38-year-old striker Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice, helping Al Nassr beat host Al Adalah 5-0 in the 22nd round of the Saudi League last night.
Score: Ronaldo 40 pen, 66, Talisca 55, 78, Yahya 98
Returning to Al Nassr after two consecutive doubles for Portugal in the Euro qualifiers, Ronaldo scored two more goals at Prince Abdullah bin Jalawi Stadium. For the first time since March 2018, the new Portuguese superstar has scored twice in three consecutive matches. He then scored twice and four times for Real Madrid against Eibar and Girona in La Liga, and then scored twice for Spain in a friendly against Egypt.
Ronaldo opened the scoring for Al Nassr before the penultimate team Al Adalah in the 40th minute from the penalty spot. Defender Abdulelah Al Amri was cut down by Abdulaziz Al Jamman in the penalty area and the referee initially waved his hand without blowing the whistle. However, after being consulted by VAR to review the situation, the referee blew a penalty for the visitors and Ronaldo shot 11m into the lower left corner to knock out goalkeeper Milan Mijatovic. Captain Al Nassr celebrates the table in a familiar swing dance style.
Ronaldo scored a brace in the 66th minute from a better tackle. Receiving the ball from about 30 meters to the left, he led into the penalty area, turned his left foot and then hit the corner to score the third goal for Al Nassr in this match. Ronaldo congratulated the table by putting his hands together in front of his chest, and the two teammates did the same. This is his 11th goal in nine matches in the Saudi League, placing fifth in the top scorer race.
Sofascore statistics give Ronaldo 8.2 points in this match, but only second. Teammate Anderson Talisca was given the maximum 10 points, with a brace like Ronaldo. Talisca increased the score to 2-0 in the 55th minute with a beautiful diagonal left foot shot. In the 78th minute, Ayman Yahya poked a slot for the Brazilian striker to jump down and hit the ball over the goalkeeper’s head to raise the score to 7-0. Yahya himself then scored the winning goal of 5-0, also receiving 8.2 points like Ronaldo.
This victory was not enough to help Al Nassr reclaim the top of the Saudi League table, when Al Ittihad also defeated Damac in the match at the same time. After the 22nd round, Al Ittihad took the lead, one point more than the second in the Al Nassr group. In the next match, Al Nassr continued to be a guest at Al Feiha.