Cristiano Ronaldo moved out in front in the race for the 2024-25 Roshn Saudi League golden boot with two goals in Al Nassr’s 3-1 win at Al Khaleej on Tuesday night.
The Portuguese superstar struck twice in the second half, the first coming on 65 minutes when he met compatriot Otavio’s clever back-heel ball to finish low into the bottom corner from the edge of the hosts’ penalty area. It marked Ronaldo’s 100th goal contribution since joining Al Nassr in December 2022.
By that stage, Al Khaleej were already down to 10 men, Saeed Al Hamsal’s yellow card for handball quickly upgraded to a red following a VAR review.
However, to their credit, Georgios Donis’ side fought their way back into the match and, with 10 minutes remaining, earned a penalty when Ali Lajami blocked Fabio Martins’ overhead kick with his arm. Al Khaleej midfielder Konstantinos Fortounis made no mistake from the spot, sending Al Nassr goalkeeper Bento the wrong way.
Al Khaleej’s joy, though, was short-lived. Barely a minute had passed before Al Nassr restored their lead, Marcelo Brozovic finding Sultan Al Ghannam with a superb defence-splitting pass to leave the full-back to drill low past Al Khaleej goalkeeper Ibrahim Sehic.
Al Nassr then wrapped up the points eight minutes into injury-time, with substitute Saad Haqawi bursting clear and rolling to Ronaldo for the simplest of tap-ins. Ronaldo did not hide his delight for the young Saudi Arabian forward, who was making only his third RSL appearance.
The double took Ronaldo to the top of the scoring charts – he won the award last season with a record 35 goals - lifting the Al Nassr captain to 13 this term. He is one clear of Al Hilal’s Aleksandar Mitrovic and two ahead of Al Ittihad counterpart, and former Real Madrid teammate, Karim Benzema.
The win, coming on the back of last week’s disappointing draw at Al Taawoun, lifts Al Nassr back into third, 11 points off leaders Al Hilal. Al Khaleej, the only side to defeat champions Al Hilal in the RSL this campaign, drop to eighth.
