Saudi Pro League: Ronaldo, Mane on Doel as Al Nassr beats Al Ittihad with 2-0

It was a top-of-the-table collision in the Saudi Pro League, where Nassr was already at the top and on Saturday defendant Al Ittihad beat 2-0.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Sadio Mane thought it was just to guide Al Nassr to three points while it stays at the top of the table with 12 points of four games. Al Ittihad is second with nine points of the same number of trips.

For Al Ittihad it was the end of a 19-game undefeated series at home in the Saudi Pro League.

Given the beautiful tifo of the home fans in the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium and the loud cheers, you would think it would feed Altihad to start the match on the forefoot, but the right-old whistle, the procedure was dominated.

Mane and Kingsley Coman on the flanks turned out to be a threat to the Alltihad -Backline, in which Nassr lasted only nine minutes to stamp his superiority in the collision.

Coman set up the Afterburners to get past his marker on the right flank and drove a cross in the box. Mane, who had already started making a run on the rear, met the cross with a perfect first-touch to volleyize the ball in the net.

It happened: ITT vs NAS highlights

In the 14th minute, Ronaldo got his first scoring option when he met Coman’s cross with a header at the near-post, but failed to keep Target in his efforts.

But the Portuguese are rarely kept silent, and in the 35th minute he used his head to double the lead of Al Nassr. This time, when he sent a measured cross in the middle, Ronaldo met a perfect connection to touch the net from a close distance.

Al Ittihad had opportunities to come back in the first half with Karim Benzema who found Steven Bergwijn a few times, but the last one was too slow in responding and eventually bottled all the scoring chances he had.

In the second half, Nassr started to slow down the pace of the game, but never leaned back completely while it continued with his search to find a third party.

Al Nassr’s only attacker, who will be frustrated after the game, will be Joao Felix because he just couldn’t find it despite getting a few brilliant opportunities. His best chance came in the 39th minute when Mane found him in the rear post. Felix chose to hit the ball first, could not control the pace of his shot and eventually bumped the ball over the slat bar.

However, it was Ronaldo who missed the easiest chance of the game. In the 58th minute, Felix screwed a pass for Nawaf Boushal. Because he wanted to erase the ball in safety, ittihad keeper Predrag Rajkovic ran from his line, but lost the race to Boushal. With the aim of gaping, Boushal Ronaldo thought with the cutbacks, and the Portuguese had to hit the target.

Sometimes the easiest chances are the hardest to end, and that turned out to be the case for Ronaldo, who, despite the fact that he had the ball under control, did not hit the ball in the empty net while he skipped his effort.

The Miss, however, has not hurt the big schedule of things, because it kept its two goals on the bag three points.

Published on 27 September 2025