Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice from the penalty spot, Al Nassr firmly consolidated second place in the Saudi Arabian national championship (Saudi Pro League).
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| Captain Cristiano Ronaldo and Al Nassr Club players. (Source: Getty Images) |
On the evening of December 26, Al Nassr traveled to Al Ittihad's home field with a record of 3 wins and 1 draw in the last 4 matches. Ronaldo and his teammates, despite being away, entered the match confidently and quickly created an overwhelming situation.
However, Al Ittihad also showed their mettle when playing at home. In the 14th minute, Karim Benzema made his mark with an assist for Hamdallah to open the score for Al Ittihad.
But just 5 minutes later, the French striker himself committed a foul in the penalty area, bringing a penalty to Al Nassr. On the 11m mark, Cristiano Ronaldo easily scored the equalizer 1-1 for the away team.
Al Nassr played better and better, while Al Ittihad's defense kept making mistakes. In the 38th minute, Talisca put Al Nassr ahead 2-1 after a skillful handling and finishing in the penalty area.
The second half was exciting and in the 51st minute, Hamdallah completed his double to equalize 2-2 for Al Ittihad. The highlight of the match came in the 66th minute, when the referee showed a red card to Fabinho for a foul in the penalty area and awarded a penalty to Al Nassr.
Once again, CR7 completed the task excellently from the 11m mark, raising the score to 3-2. Another Al Nassr star, Sadio Mane also scored a double in the 75th and 82nd minutes, closing out a 5-2 victory in favor of Al Nassr.
With this result, Al Nassr firmly consolidated second place in the Saudi Arabian national championship (Saudi Pro League) with 43 points/18 matches, 7 points behind the team above Al Hilal. Meanwhile, Al Ittihad ranked 6th with 28 points.
Cristiano Ronaldo ended the season with 53 goals, surpassing Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe, who both scored 52. With Kane and Mbappe both having finished their 2023 fixtures, Ronaldo is likely to win the title of top scorer of the year.
Erling Haaland still has a chance to catch up with Ronaldo. However, the Norwegian striker is injured and will likely miss the two matches between Man City and Everton on December 28 and Sheffield United on December 30.
Ronaldo can still improve his record when he faces Al Taawon on the morning of December 31. In addition to 53 goals, the Portuguese superstar also has 15 assists in 58 matches, an extraordinary achievement for a player who is about to turn 39.
After 18 rounds of the Saudi Pro League, Ronaldo is leading the scoring list with 19 goals, two more than his opponent Aleksandar Mitrovic. The victory over Al Ittihad helps Al Nassr continue the championship race with Al Hilal.
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