Benzema, Aubameyang and Ronaldo net in Friday wins | OneFootball

Stefano Pioli’s perfect start to life at Al Nassr continued on Friday with another solid win. The Yellow and Blue side followed up their 3-0 victory against Al Ettifaq in Matchweek 4 on the road with a 2-0 victory over Al Wehda at Al Awwal Park in the day's early kick-off.

The home crowd got off their seats to celebrate not long into the contest when Wesley picked up Aymeric Laporte’s pass and cut inside on his right foot before curling an effort that looked destined for back of the net. However, his shot bounced back off the upright.

Youngster Angelo opened the scoring just four minutes before half-time. The Brazilian collected Sadio Mane’s pass down the right flank and, with everyone expecting him to cross for Cristiano Ronaldo, he instead chipped it over goalkeeper Abdullah Al Owaisher and into the net to open his Roshn Saudi League account.

Al Nassr’s victory was then sealed in the 56th minute, when Sultan Al Ghannam was brought down inside the Al Wehda penalty area after an exquisite piece of skill to evade his marker. Skipper Ronaldo stepped up and converted from the spot in his trademark style to double his side’s lead and make it four RSL goals in five matches this term.

Al Qadsiah v Al Ahli

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s first RSL goal helped Al Qadsiah bounce back from two matches without a win and emerge on top in a fiery clash against Al Ahli at Prince Mohammed bin Fahd Stadium on Friday night.

The former Arsenal, Chelsea and Barcelona forward fired home a 43rd-minute penalty to get off the mark for the newly promoted side he joined in the summer from Olympique Marseille.

After a summer of heavy spending saw them sign the likes of Real Madrid captain Nacho, Belgium international goalkeeper Koen Casteels and others, Al Qadsiah started brightly with victories against Al Fateh and Al Raed. Yet they then lost to Al Shabab and were held to a draw on the road by Al Okhdood in game that saw Mexican forward Julian Quinones, another summer signing,  sent off.

On Friday, a solid defensive display helped the side from Al Khobar deny Ivan Toney, Riyad Mahrez and company any clear-cut chances, producing a season-record fourth clean sheet in five matches.

The result sees Al Qadsiah leap above Al Ahli, who are struggling for form in the early stages of the campaign having suffered their second defeat in five league matches on the back of being eliminated earlier this week by second-tier Al Jandal in the King’s Cup first round. Matthias Jaissle’s men now sit seventh, while Al Qadsiah move into the top four.

Al Ittihad v Al Khaleej

Karim Benzema inspired a heroic second-half comeback for Al Ittihad, who came from a goal down at the break to demolish Al Khaleej 4-1 in front of 27,483 fans at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah.

The visitors got off to a flying start when, on five minutes, Togolese winger Khaled Narey picked up a well-executed pass from former Al Ittihad midfielder Khalid Al Sumairi, before producing a sumbime lob over goalkeeper Predrag Rajkovic to open the scoring.

A tactical master move from French coach Laurent Blanc saw him take off both full-backs Mohanad Al Shanqiti and Hassan Kadesh at the break, and move Albanian debutant Mario Mitaj from midfield to left-back.

The reshuffle produced instant results with Benzema exchanging a one-two with Houssem Aouar before firing home the equaliser from close range within four minutes of the restart.

Aouar then turned from creator to scorer, with substitute Muath Faqihi playing his role in the comeback. On 56 minutes, The Saudi Arabian summer signing whipped in a cross from the left that was met by a well-taken header from Aouar to put the hosts ahead.

Al Ittihad cruised further ahead when N’Golo Kante embarked on a mazy run down the middle and then fed Moussa Diaby with only the goalkeeper to beat. The former Aston Villa man selflessly squared for Steven Bergwijn, leaving the Dutch winger to tap home his first goal in the RSL to make it 3-1.

Deep in added time, Hamed Al Ghamdi, who had come in minutes earlier to replace Kante, received a short pass from Benzema 30 yards out and rifled his shot into the top corner to complete the rout. With the win, Al Ittihad move back on top of the table.