Cristiano Ronaldo struck twice in the Capital Derby on Friday to lead Al Nassr to a first Roshn Saudi League victory against Al Hilal in more than three years and spark his side’s late title hopes.
The Portuguese superstar, who hadn’t scored against his Riyadh rivals in the league since moving to the Kingdom, grabbed his side’s second and third goals in a memorable 3-1 victory at Kingdom Arena.
In a hugely entertaining match, it was Ali Al Hassan who opened the scoring on the night, the Al Nassr midfielder receiving Marcelo Brozovic’s corner on the edge of the Al Hilal penalty area and curling a beautiful effort into the top corner in added time at the end of the first half.
Al Nassr doubled their advantage two minutes into the second half, when a sweeping move concluded with Sadio Mane pulling back the ball to Ronaldo, who lashed home his 20th RSL goal of the season.
However, Al Hilal gave themselves hope just after the hour mark, when Ali Al Bulayhi headed home from close range after Sergej Milinkovic-Savic flicked on a corner from the left.
As the RSL champions pushed for an equaliser, Ronaldo wrapped up the win for his team with two minutes of normal time remaining.
VAR intervened to rule that Al Hilal defender Moteb Al Harbi had touched the ball with his hand inside the home penalty area, leaving Ronaldo to step up and place his spot-kick past Yassine Bono.
The goal took the Al Nassr captain four clear at the top of the 2024-25 scoring charts, and lifted third-placed Al Nassr to within a point of Al Hilal in second – and seven points off Al Ittihad at the summit.
The Jeddah club take on city rivals Al Ahli in the Sea Derby on Saturday night.
