On Tuesday, Cristiano Ronaldo notched a pair of goals in Al Nassr’s 4-0 victory over Al Shabab, elevating his tally in the Saudi Pro League to five goals across two matches.
After securing a hat trick in a dominating 5-0 win against Al Fateh on Friday, Ronaldo expertly converted two penalties during the first half against Al Shabab, establishing a 2-0 lead for his team.
The iconic former player of Manchester United and Real Madrid, who made the move to Saudi Arabia in January, consciously chose not to pursue a third penalty kick for himself, instead deferring to his teammate Abdulrahman Ghareeb, who unfortunately missed the attempt.
Nonetheless, in the 40th minute, Ronaldo orchestrated the setup for Sadio Mané to score the team’s third goal, boosting the former Liverpool and Bayern Munich forward’s personal tally to three goals in the last two matches.
Although Ronaldo came tantalizingly close to achieving a consecutive hat trick by hitting the post with a header, Sultan Al-Ghannam capitalized on the rebound in the 79th minute, concluding the scoring. At that juncture, Al Shabab found themselves with ten players on the field following Éver Banega’s red card.
Meanwhile, in other matches on Tuesday, the former Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez contributed a goal for Al Ahli in the 39th minute, securing their fourth consecutive victory to commence the season against Al Tai. Additionally, ex-Barcelona midfielder Franck Kessié sealed the victory with a second-half goal.
The day also saw Al Taawoun secure a 1-0 triumph against Al Okhdood, while Damac and Al Fateh, as well as Al Khaleej and Al Hazem, settled for draws.
As the standings stand, Al Ahli are on par with Al Ittihad at the pinnacle of the table. In contrast, Al Nassr finds themselves in sixth place after experiencing defeats in their initial two games.
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