Ivan Toney scored a brace as Al-Ahli Saudi sent Al Nassr to their first defeat of the 2025/26 Saudi Pro League season with a 3-2 win at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah.
Al-Ahli Saudi ruthlessly exploited Al Nassr’s high defensive line to take an early 2-0 lead thanks to a brace from England striker Toney. The home side had threatened in the first minute when Galeno hit the crossbar, and made good on that threat when Toney tucked away Galeno’s square pass in the seventh minute.
He then doubled his tally by running onto a pass from inside his own half and punching the ball past Nawaf Al Aqidi into the Al Nassr net in the 20th minute.
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Al Nassr were given a lifeline ten minutes later when Al-Ahli goalkeeper Abdulrahman Al Sanbi fumbled a hopeful shot from centre-back Abdulelah Al Amri between his legs and into the back of the net. Al Sanbi added another goal when he thundered home Marcelo Brozovic’s corner just before half-time to level the match.
Toney also hit the base of the post shortly before half-time when the match was half-way and there was nothing separating the two sides.
Merih Demiral then broke the deadlock after half-time, nodding home from the six-yard box after Toney acrobatically hooked Matheus Goncalves’ free-kick towards him to score what turned out to be the winning goal.
Al Nassr had a lot of ball possession from then on, but could not create clear chances to level the score. Towards the end of the match, tempers began to flare as both sides had dismissed players in the closing stages of the match.
For Al Ahli, Ali Majrashi was given his marching orders for punching Joao Felix, while Nawaf Boushal was sent off for tripping the last man in front of Al Nassr.
Star striker Cristiano Ronaldo had little impact on proceedings, with an off-target header in the first half his only significant effort in the 90 minutes.
The defeat means Al Nassr have handed title rivals Al Hilal the chance to move to the top of the table with victory over Damac on January 4. With this victory, Al-Ahli Saudi now remains fourth, but closes the gap with Al Taawoun to three points.
Published on January 3, 2026
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