Cristiano Ronaldo scored a penalty in the 115th minute to maintain Al-Nassr’s 100 percent start to the Saudi Pro League season following a 2-1 win over Al-Fayha.
Ronaldo, who had equalized early in the match after Jason had given the visitors a surprise lead, took the penalty in second-half stoppage time after a foul was awarded in the area on defender Abdulelah Al-Amri.
The result in Riyadh preserves the perfect start to Ronaldo and company’s league campaign, which has seen them win their opening seven games to move three points clear at the top.
Al-Nassr against Al-Fayha as it happened
With the likes of Ronaldo, Sadio Mané, Joao Félix and Kingsley Coman in their ranks, it is perhaps unsurprising that Al-Nassr has scored the most goals in the Saudi top flight so far this season.
But despite the player’s enviable attacking prowess, it was the visitors who took a surprise lead in the 13th minute when a ball from former Manchester United defender Chris Smalling found the run of Jason.
With Al-Nassr’s high defensive line exposed, the Spanish striker entered the box before firing past Nawaf Alaqidi to give Al-Fayha the initial lead.
Kingsley Coman then scored what initially appeared to be the equalizer when he finished Sadio Mane’s low cross well, but VAR ruled that Mane had been in an offside position in the build-up.
However, the hosts would equalize before the break thanks to Ronaldo. After some good footwork from Coman, the Frenchman found Ronaldo in the area and the Portuguese striker needed just two touches to take the ball away from the goalkeeper and score his eighth goal of the season.
With everything in order at the break, Al-Nassr started the second half brightly. Ronaldo wasted a good opportunity by failing to hit the target after taking advantage of a cutback by Angelo Gabriel.
The visitors looked more dangerous on the counterattack in the latter stages of the match and had a couple of great opportunities to score the goal at the death.
And they were left to rue those wasted efforts when Al-Nassr was awarded a penalty in the 15th minute of added time, which Ronaldo duly converted to give his team a last-gasp victory.
