Cristiano Ronaldo was on target from the penalty spot to help secure Al-Nassr a 2-0 victory over 10-man Al-Wehda in the Saudi Pro League on Friday.
2024/2025 Saudi Professional League
2-0
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
10' Highlight from Al Nassr FC vs Al Wehda
17' Highlight from Al Nassr FC vs Al Wehda
27' Match Event for Al Nassr FC vs Al Wehda
29' Match Event for Al Nassr FC vs Al Wehda
35' Highlight from Al Nassr FC vs Al Wehda
41' GOAL! Al Nassr FC 1-0 Al Wehda (Ângelo)
45' Match Event for Al Nassr FC vs Al Wehda
47' Match Event for Al Nassr FC vs Al Wehda
56' Penalty Goal! Al Nassr FC 2-0 Al Wehda (Cristiano Ronaldo)
79' Match Event for Al Nassr FC vs Al Wehda
Match Report
Angelo had given the hosts the leave just before the break, and Al-Wehda's game went from bad to worse as Waleed Bakshween received some late marching orders.
Al-Nassr dominated the first half and, after Wesley had struck the woodwork, finally got their reward in the 40th minute as Angelo latched onto Sadio Mane's throughball to lob a fine finish over Abdullah Al Owaishir.
Al-Wehda showed some fight after going behind, with Youssef Amyn flashing a shot wide on the stroke of half-time before Juninho Bacuna forced Bento into a good save after the restart.
The result was put beyond doubt shortly after though – Mohamed Al Makahasi pulled down Sultan Al Ghannam in the box, and Ronaldo made no mistake with the resulting spot-kick.
Mane was denied a goal of his own in the 81st minute, with Ronaldo straying just offside in the build-up, before Bakshween received a needless second yellow card for dissent five minutes later.
Al-Nassr move up to second in the table, just one point behind leaders Al-Hilal, for now, with Al-Wehda down in 14th.
|| Full time,@AlNassrFC 2:0 #AlWehda pic.twitter.com/VYhg4MdXJY
— AlNassr FC (@AlNassrFC_EN) September 27, 2024
Data Debrief: Pioli makes dream start
Stefano Pioli won his first match in the Saudi Pro League 3-0 against Al-Ettifaq, and on Friday, became the first manager in the club's history to start his reign with back-to-back clean sheets in the competition.
The hard work was done in the first half though, as Al-Nassr had 14 of their 19 shots, accumulating 1.42 expected goals as they hit the target five times.
Line-ups
Al Nassr FC XI: Ronaldo, Laporte, Mane, Otávio, Sultan Al-Ghannam, Abdullah Alkhaibari, Mohamed Simakan, Bento, Ângelo, Salem Al Najdi, Wesley
Subs: Mohammed Al-Fatil, Abdulmajeed Al-Sulayhim, Raghed Al-Najjar, Abdulrahman Ghareeb, Ali Al-Hassan, Nawaf Al-Boushal, Ayman Yahya, Mohammed Maran, Majed Qasheesh
Al Wehda XI: Ighalo, Waleed Bakshween, Abdullah Al-Oaisher, Alexandru Creţu, Craig Goodwin, Saeed Al-Mowalad, Juninho Bacuna, El Yamiq, Mohamed Al Makahasi, Youssef Amyn, Mishal Al-Alaeli
Subs: Saad Bguir, Ala'a Al-Hajji, Abdulrahman Al-Shammari, Yahya Naji, Hussain Al-Eisa, Abdulaziz Noor, Ali Al-Salem, Murad Khadhari, Saad Al Qahtani