Cristiano Ronaldo continued to close in on the 1000-goal barrier after returning to the scoresheet and leading Al Nassr to a new victory over Al Faisaly, strengthening their position in the Saudi Pro League title race.
Al-Alami won 3-1 away from home on Friday evening at the Al Majma’ah Sports City Stadium, as part of the eleventh round, maintaining the positive run of results under manager Ange Postecoglou.
Ronaldo scored the second goal in the 49th minute following a free-kick taken by his compatriot João Felix, raising his tally to 982 official goals in his career with clubs and the Portugal national team, leaving him just 18 goals away from the 1,000-goal milestone.
The incident sparked controversy regarding the goalscorer, as replays suggested the ball touched an Al Faisaly defender before entering the net, opening the door for it to be considered an own goal. However, the Saudi Pro League officially awarded it to Ronaldo in the match records.
Abdullah Al-Hamdan had opened the scoring in the fourth minute, before Théo Bongonda reduced the deficit for Al Faisaly in the 66th minute, but substitute Angelo sealed the match with the third goal in the 79th minute, capitalizing on Al-Hamdan’s chest-set up.
According to Opta, Al Faisaly became the 25th team Ronaldo has scored against in the history of his Saudi Pro League appearances, surpassing Nasser Al-Shamrani—who scored against 24 teams—and standing alone in fourth place behind Salem Al-Dossari and Omar Al Somah, who share the record of scoring against 27 teams, and Abderrazak Hamdallah with 26 teams.
Al Nassr raised its tally to 25 points from ten matches, having achieved eight wins, one draw, and one defeat, temporarily climbing to second place behind leaders Al Qadsiah on goal difference and ahead of Al Hilal, who have 24 points from nine matches.
Ronaldo’s goal came after he missed the opportunity to reach this tally in the previous match against Neom, when he missed a penalty kick in his team’s 1-0 victory, thus making up for that evening and contributing to Al Nassr’s fourth consecutive win across all competitions.
Al-Alami’s attention now turns to hosting the UAE’s Al Wasl on Monday, October 26, in the AFC Champions League Elite, seeking their second win after a defeat against Al Ain and a victory over Uzbekistan’s Neftchi, before welcoming Al-Kholood in the league on the 29th, prior to visiting Al-Hazem on November 5.
