GiveMeSport
·4 March 2023
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·4 March 2023
Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al-Nassr maintained their status as leaders of the Saudi League after registering a 3-1 victory over Al-Batin on Friday.
Renzo Lopez gave the visitors, who are rock-bottom of the league with only six points to their name, a shock lead in the 17th minute.
Al-Batin maintained their one-goal advantage until second-half stoppage-time when Al-Nassr found the net three times.
Abdulrahman Ghareeb (90’ +3), Mohamed Al Fatil (90’ +12) and Mohammed Maran (90’ + 14) all scored to ensure that Al-Nassr stay two point clear of second-placed Al-Ittihad at the top of the table.
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Ronaldo played the full 90 minutes but wasn’t able to get himself on the scoresheet on this occasion.
However, the 38-year-old will feel he should have scored in the first half following a bizarre piece of goalkeeping from Al-Batin’s Martin Campana.
Campana came charging to the edge of his box before inexplicably jumping into the air, giving Ronaldo the simple task of continuing his run.
With the ‘keeper beaten, Ronaldo was left with the challenge of slotting the ball into the unguarded net from an acute angle.
However, defender Abdullah Al Yousif bailed out his embarrassed teammate with a superb goal-line clearance.
A clip of Campana’s curious attempt to stop Ronaldo from scoring has gone viral on Twitter.
Ronaldo was handed the league’s Player of the Month award prior to kick-off.
The legendary Portuguese forward scored eight goals in February from just four appearances, proving that he’s still one of the most deadly finishers in world football.
Ronaldo netted all four goals in Al-Nassr’s 4-0 away win over Al-Wehda on February 9.
He then scored all three of Al-Nassr’s goals in a 3-0 victory against Damak two weeks later.
While he didn’t score himself, Ronaldo still appeared to be delighted with Al-Nassr’s latest win.
The former Manchester United player posted several photos from the game alongside the caption: “Always believe until the end! Vamos!!”
It certainly seems that Ronaldo is enjoying his football again in Saudi Arabia’s top league following a tough end to 2022.
And millions of Ronaldo’s fans around the world will be thrilled to see their hero playing with a smile on his face again.