Jorge Jesus in boastful mood after Al Hilal thrash Al Nassr: “I’d like to see them without Ronaldo, like we’re without Neymar” | OneFootball

Al Hilal 3-0 Al Nassr

Al Hilal opened up a 7-point lead at the top of the Saudi Arabian Pro League on Friday evening, thanks to a 3-0 victory over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Al Nassr, led by fellow Portuguese Luís Castro.

With Rúben Neves in midfield, Al Hilal ran out comfortable winners on paper, but there was controversy on the night as Ronaldo had a goal ruled out towards the end of the encounter with the score still at 1-0, as well as various other aggrievances.

The sides met in Riyadh with four points separating Jorge Jesus’ unbeaten Al Hilal from nearest challengers Al Nassr. The hosts made an exceptional start, creating several openings in the early stages of what was a lively but ultimately goalless first half, which ended with Ronaldo having an altercation with Al Hilal’s Ali Al Bulayhi after the defender had feigned injury to ensure a booking for Portuguese midfielder Otávio.

Al Hilal took the lead in on 64 minutes through Milinković-Savić’s header, but Ronaldo thought he had equalised in the 73rd minute when he brilliantly volleyed home Sadio Mane’s cross on his left foot. However, the linesman had raised his flag and the VAR technology informed that Ronaldo was offside by the slightest of margins.

The game came to a frantic ending, which included Ronaldo left further aggrieved when appealing for a penalty following a robust challenge by Al Bulayhi. Al Hilal made the game safe in the closing minutes when star striker Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a late brace, the first of which also left Ronaldo incensed over what he felt was a push from Mitrovic when the pair contested a corner delivery.

Highlights well worth a watch:

Ronaldo was left deeply frustrated by the officiating, as was his manager Luís Castro. “I hope that the Al Nassr management will contact the Saudi Federation to put an end to these refereeing errors,” Castro said. “The VAR room needs VAR to control it! The strangest thing is the fact that the referee does not go and check the VAR screen.

“Is it normal for the striker to push our player and score a goal and the referee doesn't see it again? There were two penalties that were not awarded in favour of Al Nassr and Al Hilal's second goal was illegal.

“If you are going to win, win deservedly. The championship is not over yet. I am the first and last person responsible for this defeat. Al Hilal won, congratulations to Al Hilal. But we can't continue as it is. They don’t even use VAR.

“We didn't lose because of the refereeing, we lost because of our own fault. But whoever manages the game must manage it in the best way. I'm not going to discuss the offside, it's a machine that draws lines and I accept it. Now, the two penalties and Al Hilal's goal, I discuss it with the referee because I don't agree with him.

“Today, we needed VAR here for VAR.”

Neymar would make us even stronger - Jesus

Jorge Jesus understandably took a more positive view of the scoreline, saying his team fully deserved the result. “We won by three goals because we were better, both as a team and individually,” he said. “In fact, we could have started the second half already winning 2-0 or even 3-0. Then, in the second half we scored three goals, but we could have scored four or five."

"We won because we were better at every moment of the game. In addition to the three goals we scored, we had four or five more scoring opportunities. Al Nassr had more possession of the ball, yes, but they didn't have any chances to score. No we haven’t won anything yet, just three points, there's still a lot of championship left. We're on the right track.

“I want to see what would become of Al Nassr without Ronaldo, of Al Ahli without Mahrez, of Al Ittihad without Benzema. If we had Neymar we would be much stronger and he hasn't been with us for 11 games.”

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