Cristiano Ronaldo on target as Al Nassr return to winning ways

Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates a goal for Al-Nassr. Source: Original

Cristiano Ronaldo on target as Al Nassr return to winning ways

Stephen Oladehinde 21:44 - 28.04.2023

Al Nassr secured a vital 4-0 home win against Al Raed after recently crashing out of the King's Cup last week.

Al Nassr’s hope of winning a trophy this season was flushed down the drain after losing 1-0 against Al-Wehda in the King's Cup of Champions last week.

However, they returned to winning ways in the Saudi Pro League as they continue their chase for the league title with six points behind league leaders Al Ittihad. Cristiano Ronaldo's first-half strike gave the home side the lead and Abdulrahman Ghareeb, Mohammed Maran and Abdulmajeed Al-Sulaiheem secured the win in the second half.

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Has it happened

In spite of the defeat against Al Wehda, interim manager Dinko Jelii plans to make just one change in his starting lineup, with Ronaldo being supported by Talisca and Abdulrahman Ghareeb. 

Both managers only made one change to the starting lineup. Talisca comes in for Sultan Al-Farhan for the Al Raed, and Ayman Yahya starts for Al Nassr.

The game started with Al Nassr getting the first chance of the game which led to their first goal. Al Raed failed to clear their lines inside the box in the third minute of the first half as Sultan Al-Ghannam nodded the ball to the back post, and a lurking Ronaldo nodded home the opener.

The home side continued putting pressure on the away side as they tried to craft a lot of chances for the second goal but were unable to get the ball into the back of the net as the referee blew the halftime whistle.

The second half started and Al Nassr quickly added the second goal. In the 54th minute, Luis Gustavo's put a cross into the box which was headed down by Ronaldo, and Alhassan helped it to Ghareeb, to calmly fire home a second goal.

The third goal was added in the 90th minute when Masharipov fought to keep the ball alive inside the box and his neat pass was buried by fellow substitute Mohammed Maran. Shortly after the fourth goal was scored as Al-Sulaiheem found his way through the Al Raed defence and linked up with Masharipov before bending home a superb finish.

With five league games remaining, Al Nassr's deficit has shrunk to three points behind league leaders Al Ittihad.