Cristiano Ronaldo continues to be ready for his first home trophy in Saudi Arabia after Al Nassr misplaced 4-1 to Al Hilal within the Saudi Tremendous Cup on Saturday.
The five-time Ballon d’Or winner scored the opening purpose simply earlier than half-time within the season’s curtain-raiser between Saudi Professional League champions Al Hilal and runners-up Al Nassr.
Nonetheless, the 39 year-old ahead then reduce a annoyed determine after Al Hilal netted 4 instances in a 17-minute span within the second half,
Ronaldo, who joined Al Nassr in December 2022 and set a league report final season with 35 targets, scored from shut vary within the forty fourth minute after being teed up by Abdulrahman Ghareeb.
Nevertheless it was all one-way visitors within the second half as Al Hilal’s Serbian duo made the distinction. Midfielder Sergej Milinkovic-Savic struck first, 10 minutes after the restart, after exchanging passes with Aleksandar Mitrovic and firing a strong shot into Al Nassr’s web.
Al Hilal took the lead eight minutes later when Mitrovic rose to satisfy an ideal cross from Rúben Neves and headed the ball in from shut vary.
The previous Fulham striker then prolonged Al Hilal’s lead when he acquired a cross from Brazilian Malcom within the 69th minute and fired the ball straight into the web.
Malcom scored Al Hilal’s fourth purpose three minutes later when he took benefit of Al Nassr goalkeeper Bento’s error in controlling the ball after a cross from Aymeric Laporte to fireside it dwelling with ease.
“We confirmed how good we’re within the second half,” Mitrovic mentioned. “We had some issues within the first half after which modified within the second. We stayed calm and it feels good to get a trophy at first of the season.”
Al Hilal gained the Tremendous Cup for the second time in a row and the fifth time of their historical past and stay essentially the most profitable crew within the competitors, three titles forward of Al Nassr.
It was a well-recognized story for Ronaldo and Al Nassr, who had been crushed to the Saudi King’s Cup in addition to the Saudi Professional League title by Al Hilal final season.
The brand new Saudi Professional League season will start on Thursday, when Al Nassr host Al Raed.
Info from The Related Press and Reuters contributed to this report.