Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice in Al-Nassr’s 5-2 win at Al-Ittihad Stadium.
At the age of 38, Cristiano Ronaldo scored 53 goals in 2023. Photo: Al-Nassr
In the early morning of December 27 (Vietnam time), Al-Nassr was a guest on Al-Ittihad’s field in round 18 of Saudi Pro League 2023-2024. Karim Benzema’s figҺt against Cristiano Ronaldo was the highlight of the match, with an almost absolute victory for the Portuguese superstar.
“Almost” is because while Ronaldo had a double goal in Al-Nassr’s 5-2 victory, Benzema only had an assist for his teammate to score.
That was the assist that led to Hamed Allah’s opening goal after 14 minutes of play. However, just 5 minutes later, Ronaldo successfully scored an 11m kιck, equalizing the score for the away team.
In the remaining developments of the first half, each team had 2 yellow cards, but while Al-Nassr scored 1 more goal, the home team could not do that. Alex Telles was the star during this period, with 1 assist for Anderson Tallisca’s goal and 1 booking.
Sadio Mane (white shirt) also scored 2 goals against Al-Ittihad. Photo: Al-Nassr
Just 5 minutes after the break, the score was equal again, when Allah completed his own double. However, matters then worsened rapidly for Al-Ittihad.
In just 2 minutes (64 and 66), Fabinho received 2 consecutive yellow cards, after which Ronaldo once again successfully scored a penalty kιck, increasing the score to 3-2.
Ronaldo scored his 19th goal since the beginning of the season in the Saudi Pro League, also his 53rd goal in 2023, to surpass Harry Kane and Kylian Mbappe, becoming the best striker in the calendar year.
Playing better than others, the rest was quite easy for Al-Nassr, when Sadio Mane also scored 2 goals in the 75th and 82nd minutes, setting the score 5-2.
For the first time in more than half a decade, Al-Nassr won against Al-Ittihad, but more importantly, they narrowed the gap with top team Al-Hilal to 6 points after 18 rounds.
Ronaldo declared that he and his teammates will pursue to the end in the championship race.