Ronaldo suffers another setback in Saudi title race

FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Saudi Super Cup - Semi Final - Al Ittihad v Al Nassr - King Fahd International Stadium, Riyadh, Saudia Arabia - January 26, 2023 Al Nassr's Cristiano Ronaldo during the warm up before the match REUTERS/Ahmed Yosri/File Photo

(Reuters) – Cristiano Ronaldo’s hopes of clinching the Saudi Pro League at the first attempt suffered another setback when his Al-Nassr club were held to a 1-1 home draw by lowly Al-Khaleej in Riyadh on Monday.

The visitors, who are battling to stave off relegation, took a shock lead through Fabio Martins after four minutes at Al-Awwal Park but Alvaro Gonzalez soon equalised for Al-Nassr.

Portuguese striker Ronaldo thought he had given his team the lead in the 58th minute only for the referee to cancel the goal for offside.

League leaders Ittihad, meanwhile, thrashed Abha 4-0 to open up a five-point cushion over second-placed Al-Nassr with four games to play.

Ronaldo was surrounded by Al-Khaleej players looking to secure his shirt after the final whistle and angrily shoved away a member of the team’s staff when he attempted to take a selfie with the former Real Madrid striker.

(Reporting by Shady Amir, editing by Nick Mulvenney and Peter Rutherford)

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*