Al-Nassr hit a wall against Al-Khaleej
Al-Nassr wanted to keep it rolling. The Riyadh club came in on the back of a 2-1 win over Abha and travelled to Al-Khaleej on Saturday night looking to back it up. It all unravelled in the first half.
Cristiano Ronaldo was there, flanked by Joao Felix and Sadio Mane. Kingsley Coman, though, was not even in the squad. For 45 minutes, the away attack huffed and puffed around a stubborn home block without finding a way through. And it was Al-Khaleej who struck first. Omar Mascarell opened the scoring just before the break. Ange Postecoglou’s men went into the dressing room behind, with barely a decent effort to show for it.
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Al-Hamdan restores parity
The reply took time coming. It arrived in the 72nd minute. Inigo Martinez, the former Barcelona defender, picked out Abdullah Al-Hamdan inside the box. The Saudi forward kept his nerve. 1-1.
Al-Nassr pushed for a winner. No luck. The scoreline did not move again and the Yellow and Blue had to settle for a point from a game they had gone there to win. Ronaldo, as it happened, drew a blank.
Al-Hilal pull clear
The table makes the result sting even more. Al-Nassr stay third, but Al-Hilal have taken advantage to move top on their own. Two points dropped, and in a Saudi Pro League where the top three are separated by a thread, that is expensive.
The fixture list does not ease up. Al-Nassr need to rediscover the sharpness they lacked on Saturday, especially in the final third. A side with Ronaldo, Felix and Mane in the same line-up is not supposed to spend an entire half failing to trouble a team camped in its own box.
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