Cristiano Ronaldo was denied a late winner as Al-Nassr were held to a 1-1 draw by Al-Raed on the opening day of the Saudi Pro League.
2024/2025 Saudi Professional League
1-1
Mohammed Fouzair equalised from the spot at the start of the second half, cancelling out the 39-year-old's first-half goal at Al Awal Park on Thursday.
Al-Nassr dominated the opening exchanges, and when the visitors struggled to clear their lines from a corner, Ronaldo towered over everyone in the box to nod home Sadio Mane's delivery.
They found themselves on the backfoot minutes into the second half though - Amir Sayoud's curling shot was saved, but Fouzair was dragged back by Aymeric Laporte when he tried to reach the rebound, resulting in the defender receiving a straight red card.
After a VAR review, the card was downgraded to a yellow and a penalty was awarded to Al-Raed. Fouzair then made no mistake from 12 yards, picking out the bottom-right corner.
Talisca struck the post as Al-Nassr searched for a winner, and Ronaldo thought he had found one with just under 15 minutes left. He curved his run in behind the defence to poke past Meshari Sunyur, who had looked unbeatable, but the forward was offside, and it did not count.
The hosts were unable to join Al-Taawoun on three points at the top of the table after their win earlier on Thursday.
Match Events
35' Ronaldo opens the scoring with Mane's assist! Al Nassr FC 1-0 Al Raed
48' Laporte fouls in the box and Fouzair nets penalty! Al Nassr FC 1-1 Al Raed
76' Disallowed! Ronaldo scores the second goal but it is offside
Line-ups
Al Nassr FC XI: Ronaldo, Alex Telles, Brozovic, Laporte, Mane, Otávio, Talisca, Sultan Al-Ghannam, Abdullah Alkhaibari, Ali Lajami, Bento
Subs: Mohammed Al-Fatil, Abdulmajeed Al-Sulayhim, Mukhtar Ali, Amin Al-Bukhari, Sami Al-Najei, Abdulrahman Ghareeb, Nawaf Al-Boushal, Mohammed Maran, Salem Al Najdi
Al Raed XI: Amir Sayoud, Mohammed Al-Dawsari, Saleh Al-Amri, Mohammed Fouzair, Mathias Normann, Hamad Al-Jayzani, Oumar Gonzalez, Yahya Sunbul, Meshary Sanyor, Mobarak Al-Rajeh, Khalid Al-Subaie
Subs: Raed Al-Ghamdi, Rakan Al-Dosari, Nawaf Sahli, Anas Al-Zahrani, Bander Whaeshi, Omar Shami, Abdullah Ibrahim Al Rawdhan, Basil Hilwan Al Anzi